The 100 Prequel: Becca's Tale - Book Two - The Savior
by AnotherSciFiWriter
Summary: Stories continue 2 years after the book one. Again, many stories combined. Becca went to ground; Ark people tried to survive while fighting Mars Colony; Bill Cadogen had a hard time in his bunker; Mount Weather Wallace salvaged American legacy... The scale is bigger than the first book. They are hard Sci-Fi and drama with some romance.
1. Chapter 1 - Polaris Falling

First, thank you for giving me a chance for this book! I had tons of fun writing the book one, and hope this book will be even better.

Becca's Tale in book one was large in scale and have multiple intervening paths. This book should do the same. So far the planned story arcs are: 1. Becca becoming first commander, 2. Bill Cadogan surviving in his bunker, 3. Mount Weather Jason Wallace fighting radiation 4. Ark people against Mars colony... So maybe once again the stories will get huge. No promise how far I will take them though. ~Wink~

Without further ado, please enjoy Chapter 1 - Polaris Falling

* * *

October 1st, 2054. Polaris Space Station.

"Damn it! I got only 60 seconds to live, and you are still asking me a pass phrase?!" Becca Franco yelled at the screen with disbelief. The computer still insisted on getting a new voice passcode with sufficient rarity, i.e., couldn't be general words like "open sesame", or "abracadabra". It needed to be a rare phrase, something that no one would accidentally speak it out.

However, at that moment Japanese Alpha Station's nuclear missiles were aiming at the Polaris by the command of the United Ark Federation. The ultimatum was expiring in 1 minute. The powerful missiles would blow the whole station into millions of pieces, but the computer still refused to give Becca a break.

Her eyes dashed around, suddenly saw the motto of the Eligius Group, "Seek Higher Things". _OK, let me try that._

"Set it to 'Seek Higher Things'." She quickly said.

"Phrase denied. Too common in the corporation."

 _Stupid computer!_ Becca wanted to smashed this dumb thing. After the apocalypse, Eligius Group was no more. Who in the world would say it? Then she forced herself calm down, "How about 'Ascende Superius'?" That was a Latin phrase, which meant "Up Higher", Becca just remembered it somewhere amid her college years.

"Phrase accepted. AI chip ready to deploy." The robot arms loosened. Becca grabbed the chip from their hold. Immediately she took a scalpel and cut an opening in the back of her neck. Black blood dripped down to her shirt.

"Ascende Superius!" She shouted. From the bottom of the silicon matrix appeared many tiny moving metal tentacles. They were twisting and extending outside, almost looked like a living caterpillar. Without any hesitation, Becca put it on her neck, shoving it inside the opening.

 _Now I am officially a lab monkey._ Becca felt the irony. Many monkeys died testing this chip. _Will I be the next one?_

An excruciating headache was the one came next. She dropped down to the floor, hands on her head, and rolled around in pain. Oh, _God! Make it stop!_

Seemed the God was happy to oblige. Just one moment later the headache disappeared. She struggled to pick herself up and took a quick look at the clock.

30 seconds to live!

She grabbed the nearest space suit and wore it at a record speed. It was Commander McAdams' but there was no time to choose.

Dashing inside an escape pod, she flipped a few switches. The pod became alive.

BEEP! BEEP! INCOMING MISSILES! INCOMING MISSILES! The computer went crazy. Red lights flashed the whole station.

Becca pulled a lever, and the pod dropped like a rock.

"Forgive me Grace and Cole!" Becca whispered it, while she was watching the 50,000 tons space station Polaris was shredded apart by multiple nuclear missiles above her head.

Burning debris rained down around her pod, it would be a disaster if even a small one hit it. Becca did her best steering out of the major debris field.

Suddenly in her brain she did a calculation like never before: _I am dropping from 600 km attitude, and achieving a speed of 10 times supersonic. I need to slow down my descend in 5 seconds, or the air will hit the pod like a hammer._

She didn't even have time to think about how she knew that. Just pressed the retro button right away. A sudden push from below almost crushed her bones. The pod was slowed as many fiery debris passing her like thousands of bullets in a war zone.

 _Use the atmosphere as a bouncing ground, like the way a flat rock skipping a lake surface, to avoid all the falling objects._

She immediately complied. Her pod changed the direction and went straight forward, leaving all the red hot shooting stars behind.

 _It works!_ Becca couldn't help smiling. _After 2 years of sweat and blood (literally), my chip finally works!_

 _I wish you could see this, Chris. I am coming back to you!_

===#=#=#=#=#===

"What a big waste!" Shaw exclaimed.

He and Michael Jaha stood in front of the big window of Jaha's quarter. They were watching the behemoth, Space Station Polaris, got blown up like a firework show.

"50,000 tons of best space alloy and material. Gone." Shaw shook his head. "I went to Asteroid Bell 5 times, and only fetched 400 tons of rough irons. Now we just let go of all these!"

Jaha smiled, "Shaw, those are not ours to begin with. Becca Franco had ironclad control of the station. She never traded or gave us anything for two years. And she never attended any of our meetings. Every station sees Polaris as a thorn in their eyes, and now we just learned that she's developing another advanced AI? That's the most treacherous crime against the whole Ark."

Shaw suggested, "But we can just send someone to arrest her and float her like her old man. No need to do things this extreme."

"You think we didn't try?" Michael Jaha watched the exploding Polaris slowly broke into huge pieces, and said, "She wouldn't let a single ship get near. The only exception was those shuttles with new born babies."

"Yeah, talk about that." Shaw wondered. "Now how do we give babies the radiation-resisting gene without Polaris?"

"Well, Miss Franco was not the only genetic scientist in space." Jaha answered confidently. "It turns out copying genes are much easier than creating one. Becca did the hard part for us already."

Shaw nodded. Seemed the future Chancellor Jaha had thought of everything before approving the missile launch.

Then he thought of something else, "Hey, Jaha. Do you still have the wine?"

Michael opened a safe and took out a bottle, "Yeah, here you go. It's yours anyway."

Shaw put his fingers on the bottle lip, then hesitated, "Jaha, are you going to drink with me?"

"Love to, but no." Jaha pointed at a gigantic metal ring in the space. "Today, after the Polaris is down, all 12 stations will attached themselves to that big rig. I will be very busy. Save some for me, OK?"

"Then I won't drink it alone." Shaw shook his head, "Maybe I should drink it with my son, when he returns from space."

"Your son?" Jaha was surprised. "I never heard you mentioning him."

"Well, I think he won't mention me either." Shaw sadly said, "Last time I talked to him, he said he became a spaceship pilot to get away from me."

Jaha patted his back gently, "Don't give up easily. Maybe one day he will come around."

"I really hope so." Shaw grunted, "I don't even know which ship he was on. He just disappeared on me without a goodbye." He gave the bottle back to Jaha.

 _You were a gambling addict back on earth, I wouldn't be surprised if he did so._ Jaha just kept it to himself. "Well, then, you just let me know when you want to drink it." He locked it up again in his safe. "At the meantime, I have to go and start the stations joining process. There is a good chance things can go very wrong."

Shaw had a little smile, "Relax, we all trust your engineering skill. Do you know we can see your wind turbine farms on the ground? Even after the nuclear war they are still standing."

"Glad to know that. I designed this massive ring based on those turbines."

"Then we have nothing to worry about." Shaw walked out of the door, "I really enjoy coming here. You have a big room with a window all to yourself, while mine has 10 other guys."

"Just a perk of being the Chancellor." Jaha shrugged, "Do you want my job?"

"No, no, " Shaw waved his hands, "I just want to be a common space miner. Bye, Michael!"

Jaha gave him a little grin. _Yeah, it's not easy to be a leader at this difficult time. Too many problems to solve. Today will be especially challenging._

He looked with pride at the gigantic city-wide metal ring, which took them 2 years to build. It seamlessly connected all stations' conduits and gates, making it easy for anyone to go from one station to the other. Once all stations were joined together, the whole rig would start to rotate. Everyone would finally feel the Earth's gravity again. Every job would be easier to do, and no more bone and muscle fragility. After all, we human bodies work best with 1 G.

He gave himself a pat in the back. _Yeah, we don't need the ship Exodus to be the trading market any more. After this, we can exchange things to anyone at anytime, thus it increases our survivability tremendously._ _Today is really a great day for our people. What should I called it?_

The PA speaker shouted, "Everyone in American Musk Station, let's go celebrate this Unity Day!"

 _Hm...Funny!_ Jaha couldn't help smiling. _Someone just beat me to it._


	2. Chapter 2 - End of Days

Let's roll the clock back 2 years. It was in 2052, on the day of the first apocalypse.

Bryan Hawk was probably the only human in New Metro who saw the nuclear missile yet still lived.

He was sitting on the edge of a bridge, pondering if he should jump and end his miserable and meaningless life. Many cars passed by, yet no one stopped to ask him anything. Even the police was absent. It was like the whole world was telling him, "JUMP, No one cares about you. JUMP, You useless coward!"

"BOOM!" He heard a loud sonic boom from above, so he looked up by instinct.

A rocket was dragging a long bright red tail crossing the sky. Then it deployed a parachute with a heavy payload right above the city. In 5 minutes, that nuclear bomb exploded. Blinding flash instantly vaporized everything within 2 miles radius. An unstoppable destruction wave followed, destroying everything it passed. Concrete buildings pulverized like made of flour. Millions of trees and cars flew away like bullets by the unimaginable force of the wave, which kept expanding at supersonic speed for 200 miles, leaving almost no one alive. Then all the burning trees, cars and other debris rained down at the perimeters impaling and igniting everything they went through.

New Metro had 80 million people living in before that day, but less than 20,000 afterwards.

Bryan jumped off the bridge the moment he saw that parachute, fully aware what was about to happen. _If I stay here I will die._

Moments ago he wanted to end the life he hated, but suddenly the survival instinct took over. Years of studying advanced nuclear physics didn't give him a job, yet saved his life at the most critical moment.

The water surface hit him like a car crash. Luckily his consciousness was somehow intact. Turning his head around, he saw a sewage channel and instantly dived in. It was dark and smelly, but he got no choice. Suddenly an unrelenting wave pushed him like a leaf amid a tornado. His body was propelled inside the sewage channels with countless rats. He crushed on the piles of rats and tons of filth, lessened the impact, and was sent deep into the ground.

When he woke up, he felt like his whole body was beaten up by savages, and all he could hear was rats scratching around, which drove him crazy. He tried to move, but his arms and legs had no response for 2 hours.

The next day he managed to find a crack on the channel, and climbed out from it. He gasped by the bleak scene in front of him.

The bridge was gone, no more water under it. The city's skyline was completely changed. Before, thousands of high-rise buildings were competing to be the tallest; after, only one left like a lone survivor. All around him, huge piles of rubble were burning and emitting black smoke. Broken cars, tree trunks, twisted metal and parts of human bodies were littered everywhere.

He was extremely lucky to be alive. However, he knew the survival game had just started. He was too close to the ground zero. The radiation would kill him in 2 days. He needed to have a special suit, and some medicine right away.

Lucky again for him, he knew exactly where to find them. It was the radiology lab in the university, where he graduated a long time ago. He wondered, _Is professor Hanson still there?_

… ...

 _Who is that girl?_ It was like an unreal scene in a fiction. Bryan had to rub his eyes to make sure he was not dreaming.

Amidst the dark sky, burning buildings, falling dust and ashes, a pretty young blonde was kicking the gate of the same bunker he was going to. She wore a fashionable blue blouse, a pink backpack with brown mini-skirt, seemed more like someone just stepped out of a Japanese cartoon.

 _What the hell is this girl doing? And how did she even get here?_

He looked to the right, and saw a damaged Tesla Model U. _Oh, no wonder. The rumor said Model U could survive anything. It was NOT an exaggeration._

"I am sorry!" He said it gingerly, yet still she jumped like a startled doe. An aluminum baseball bat appeared out of nowhere. She held the bat staring intensely at Bryan for a while, then loosened up and pinched her nose, "What the hell happened to you? Why are you smelling so bad?"

"Rats and shit saved my life, obviously." Bryan laughed at himself. _What a crazy world!_

"Get away from me. You stinky man. Go..." she shooed him like driving away a dog.

"Hey, young lady, I am not here to harm you." Bryan raised his hands. "I just want to help. You are making too much noise. If any other survivors come check it out, it might be very bad for you."

"Did you see any other survivors?" She asked.

"Just a few." Bryan looked sideways, "Not around here."

"Then you worry too much." She started to kick the metal gate again. "God damn it! My family owned this place. Open the gate!"

"Hey, hey, this bunker is a research facility. It belongs to the university, not any family." Bryan felt that the girl was not thinking straight at all.

"You want to bet?" She raised her bat.

"No, I don't want to get batted."

"Then stay away from me." She burst, "FIND YOUR OWN BUNKER!"

"Alright, alright, I am leaving." Bryan walked away.

… …

10 minutes later, the gate was opened. Out came Bryan Hawk, the stinky filthy man.

The girl's mouth was opened wide, "How the hell did you get in?" Her eyes were glittering with joy.

"I studied my PhD inside this dungeon for 4 years. I know all the entrances, including some air ventilation grates, which should be locked."

"Good, you are still stinky, but useful." She said.

"By the way, my name is Bryan. Bryan Hawk." He tried to introduced himself.

She gave him a wink, "I just call you Stinky."

 _Stinky? Huh, actually that's very fitting for me. My life stunk so much that I wanted to jump off a bridge._

Not minding the nickname, he asked, "So what should I call you?"

"Uh... You should...Uh...Call me Princess." She had a little sly smile.

"Princess?" Bryan wondered. "Aren't you a little too old to play Barbies?"

"Shut up Stinky."

"OK, Princess."

… …

They walked through a maze of small tunnels. Bryan started to be the tour guide, "This bunker was originally built in 1960's to prepared for a nuclear war, then the university used it to conduct all sorts of nuclear experiments. I was a grad student here to follow Professor Hanson…"

At least she seemed interested in the topic, "Then what kind of experiment did you do?"

"Well, I made some small nuclear engines that could last a hundred years before refueling."

"Wow, you must be rich." The girl was impressed. _Stinky is actually a smart guy!_

"But then Donald Eligius happened. He blocked our funding, and the whole project was halted. Later I couldn't find a job because suddenly nuclear engines were illegal. I almost jumped from a bridge yesterday. Oh, correction, I did jump from that bridge, but to survive the nuclear blast." _Irony, isn't it? Now I am back here with a beautiful princess, who claimed to own this whole bunker. This whole episode is like a nightmare combined with a fantasy.  
_

Their journey ended up in front of another heavy metal gate. The girl tried to kicked it again, but Bryan stopped her.

"Hey, hey, get your filthy palms away from me." She avoided his hand like plague.

Bryan hit a hidden buzzer. Moments later a voice with British accent came out, "For the bloody love of God, how the hell did you get in?"

"Professor Hanson, this is me, Bryan Hawk, remember?"

"Bryan who? Oh, the prodigy returns! It's been a long time. I am coming."

When the heavy metal gate opened slowly with a creaking sound, they saw a man in sixties with a bald head.

"Bryan!" His happy face changed immediately, "You looked like shit!"

"It IS shit." Bryan pointed to his right, "This is uh…"

The pretty girl showed her small hand to the professor, "Nicole Trump, nice to meet you!"

===#=#=#=#=#===

Time forward to Oct. 1st, 2054, the day Becca dropped from the sky.

That was in a top-secret US military facility called Mount Weather. The whole mountain was carved deep and a massive bunker was built within. Very few people knew that it has a 200 miles long underground tunnel connect directly to the White House Emergency Operation Center. It was the final destination the President should go in the event of a nuclear war. Anywhere in Washington DC was not safe in such an all-out war.

Therefore, the U.S. President, Jason Wallace, was in the control room of Mount Weather, when he got a report that some UFO landed into the center of New Metro. He frowned at the location. It was too far. He couldn't risk any of his men to investigate it. Lots of problems on hand already.

Then he realized, _It could be the AI coming down to find the survivors. While the Earth was being scorched, they must have hid in the space stations. Now they are coming here to kill us._

"Tell the COM department to jam the navigation signals." He gave the order with a telephone.

"But Mr. President, that will crash any spaceship who wants to land here!"

"That's the idea." He hanged up.

 _Now let me check today's radiation forecast. Hm… 2 years had passed, readings are still over the chart. Anyone without protection will get a lethal dose within minutes? What else is new?_

He made another call, "Hi, did you see Joe Whitman and his men coming back?"

"Sir, sorry no, Sir."

"Really? They were gone for 5 days. Did they bring enough oxygen with them?"

"Yes, sir, they always do."

"Please don't 'sir' me. It's too annoying."

"Sorry, ss… Okay, Mr. President."

"Never mind. I saw them now." He hanged up the phone and were happy to see, on a screen, several jeeps were driving toward Mount Weather.

 _What will they bring back this time? Picasso? Monet? Or my favorite, Norman Rockwell?_

Whitman did surprised him with a painting of Dante's Inferno, Canto 5! Wallace held the disturbingly vivid depiction of hell with fascination. _Aren't we all belong to this hell? What's the difference between love and lust?_

Whitman smiled and asked, "Sir, you like this painting?"

"Yes, very much indeed!" He took a look at Whitman, and saw his face was pale. "You looked sick. Go to the medical and take some pills."

"No, I am fine, sir." Whitman shrugged like nothing big, "Our supply of radiation pills are limited. I don't want to waste any on me. My body will heal myself after a few days."

"But you still go to the medical, at least to see your pregnant wife."

"For that, yes, I go now, Sir!" with a solute Whitman was gone.

… …

Just one hour later, Whitman was back with excitement, "Mr. President. I just heard that we detected an UFO landed in New Metro."

 _Not this again!_ Wallace shook his head, "Joe, let it go. No matter what that is, it's too far from us. Plus New Metro's radiation is too high for anyone to survive. Therefore the pilot might not be a human."

"You mean the UFO might be flew by aliens?"

"No, I mean it might be a robot with AI. They don't care about the radiation. So it makes more sense it is one of them coming down to kill the survivors."

"But we don't know it for sure." Whitman stood straight like a soldier before a mission briefing, "Sir, if you don't mind, I want to go there and do some recon."

"Joe Whitman, you are the best scout we have. I don't want to lose you. This is very dangerous."

"That's exactly why you should send me alone." Whitman insisted, "Salvaging paintings is not my specialty. Any of my men can do it."

"Soldiers, always so eager to die." Looking at his enthusiastic face, Jason Wallace let out a long sigh, "OK, get enough oxygen and ammo. Grab a good suit and enough pills. Be careful!"

"Thank you Mr. President!" Whitman grinned like he won a lottery.


	3. Chapter 3 - Surprise

Oct. 1st, 2054. The faithful day many surprising events happened.

It was 2 years after Bryan Hawk narrowly escaped the nuclear blast. He was well adapted to the new reality of the world. On that day, he was wearing an improved radiation-resistant suit he designed, and picking pickles in an abandoned garden when hearing a loud boom from the sky. Immediately he raised his head, fearing another nuclear bomb was coming, then saw a tiny pod going down toward the center square near the tower.

He took out a radio and called, "Hi, Princess, did you see it?"

The radio replied, "Of course, Stinky. You think I am deaf and blind?"

He smiled a little, "Of course not, your highness. I am going to check it out."

"Hey, Stinky." The radio stopped for a while, "Don't get too close. Be careful!"

"Yes, Princess." He turned it off and started to approached the square carefully.

 _Who is in that pod? And why does he/she come here?_ He touched the aluminum bat in his backpack, making sure it was there.

===#=#=#=#=#===

Becca stepped out of her escape pod, dizzied. The sky was dark and bleak. Nuclear winter had been raging for 2 years but showing no sign of receding. Grey ashes covered almost everything. Everywhere she looked, she could only see grim and grief.

"Beep...Beep…" Her Geiger Counter detected a radiation level above its range. She turned it off.

 _Well, here goes nothing._ She took her helmet off. That space suit wouldn't protect her long anyway. If the gene in her blood didn't work, she would die one way or the other.

From a few hundred yards away, she saw some moving figures with radiation suits exited a tall tower and walked toward her. She waved at them and exclaimed, "Hi, I am here to help!"

A man's voice came out from behind her, "Sorry, Ma'am, I wouldn't have done that If I were you."

Becca turned her head quickly, and saw a handsome man in a protection suit just ten feet away from her. How did he got there without her knowing? She was startled at first, but then she asked calmly, "Why is that?"

"They will chain you up, for one, and they will gang-rape you, for two, before they cut you into pieces, for three." The young man said it so casually like it was nothing. "So do you want to come with me and live?"

"Sure." Becca was surprised to learn how cruel those humans became. Only then she realized that the situation on the ground was vastly different than she had thought. That young man might be actually saving her life.

… …

"Hey, Stinky, who is this WOMAN?" Nicole almost shouted at his face.

 _Is that jealousy I am sensing?_ Becca wondered. _And why she call him "Stinky"?_

Bryan tried to sooth her mood, "Listen, Princess. I found her stepping out of that space pod. And those butchers were closing in. What was I supposed to do?"

"You should leave her alone. Look…" Nicole pointed at a label on Becca's suit. "She's a 'Commander'. She surely can take care of herself. Why you always risk everything to bring strangers here?"

"I'm sorry, Princess." Bryan shrugged. "But this is who I am. You know me."

Nicole pouted and sat down heavily, turning her face away. _Is she crying?_ Becca wondered.

"I am sorry that you have to see this." Bryan whispered to her, "She's not a bad girl."

"No, I am the one who should say sorry." Becca apologized. "And she's right. I don't belong here..."

"Hey, hey, stop!" Bryan raise his hand to Becca, "You need to stay here, and take some pills immediately. Or the radiation will kill you in a few days."

He turned to Nicole, who was still looking the other way, "Princess, where are the pills?"

"What... pills?" She replied weakly.

"You know what I meant. The anti-radiation pills."

"NO WAY!" She suddenly spoke aloud, "The last time we gave it to someone, he still died one week later. Those medicine should be saved for us only. Or you can ask professor Hanson for it..."

"Professor Hanson?" Becca couldn't help interrupting. "Is he still alive?"

Bryan shook his head, "He was eaten. Long story. This is just a figure of her speech."

Nicole blurted, "Yeah, which means you can ask the dead man for the pills."

 _This is the human race I am trying to save? A world full of cannibals and distrust?_ Becca felt bad, then she took a look at Bryan, _Maybe not, there are still good people here. Don't lose your faith, Becca, be strong!_

She nodded to herself and said, "Actually I don't need radiation pills. I got something better..."

Her silver suitcase was opened. Inside laid about 20 vials of dark liquid.

"This is synthetic blood with gene modification nanobots, enough for 100 people. You just inject a small dose of it, and you won't need the pill any more."

Being a scientist himself, Bryan understood it immediately, "No wonder you didn't show any signs of radiation sickness. You used it on yourself?"

"Yes, it works perfectly." Becca said, then hesitated. _Should I tell him about the AI in my head? Probably not now._

"This is great news!" Bryan seemed quite excited. "Finally I don't need to wear the suit! Give me a dose." He rolled up his sleeves.

"STOP!" Nicole suddenly jumped in between them. "You only know her today. You cannot trust her words like this."

Becca smiled, "Yeah, you got a point. I wouldn't have inject myself with unknown liquid so quickly either. So what will it take for you to trust me?"

Nicole watched her like a fox, calculating, "Alright, Stinky will get a survivor here, you inject this in him and let's see how it goes."

"Fair." Becca couldn't agree more. She just needed to save someone, didn't matter who.

===#=#=#=#=#===

Up above in the space, one by one, all 12 space stations successfully attached themselves to a metal ring as big as the New Metro. Slowly and steadily, the ring fired off Ion propellers to begin its rotation. Everything inside all 12 stations started to fly slowly toward the floor. It would be 7 days until the rotation speed could be fast enough to make the centrifugal force match the gravity of the Earth, but everyone was already cheering like a victory parade.

"Happy Unity Day!" Loud cheesy music were played in PA speakers of all 12 stations. Each have their own favorite songs. National anthems were repeated the most frequently. They opened containers of moonshine. Liquid with high alcohol content flew up and slowly went down. People all rushed to suck the droplets, before they touched the floor. Some of them obviously had too much. People danced in this light gravity everywhere, jumping from floor to the ceiling like spidermen. It was quite a carnival.

In the central control room, Theodore Kane put his hand on Michael Jaha's shoulder. They both smiled. It was an amazing engineering feat of human history. All 6000 people in the 12 stations worked hard to achieve it. Two years of slaving labor, countless hours, and many deadly accidents later, the ring was done.

Just when they thought they could finally take a rest. A radio transmission came in, "Mayday, mayday. Earth, earth, do you hear us?"

Kane frowned, "What's this? What frequency is it on?"

Jaha checked it, "It's on an open unencrypted channel, reserved only for emergencies." He flipped a switch, and spoke, "Hello, who is that? Please respond."

There were no response. Then 10 minutes later, the same radio came in, "Mayday, mayday. Earth, do you hear us?"

Jaha took up the radio again, "This is Michael Jaha of the United Ark Federation. We can hear you, please identify yourselves."

It repeated several times, until finally the other side said, "Oh, thank God! Finally someone reply us!"

Jaha almost lost all his patience, "Just answer my questions. Who the hell are you?"

After a while, the other side said, "Thank you Mr. Jaha. I am Colonel Tom Fisher of Mars Colony. We haven't receive any of your supply for 2 years. Our oxygen level is getting low. Please advise!"

Everyone in the room froze in their track. The cheering was suddenly stopped.

 _Oh, snap! we totally forgot about Mars!_ Jaha thought. _Now what should we do?_


	4. Chapter 4 - Dark Times

Will Fisher gazed upon the Valles Marineris with amazement, as always.

He was standing on the edge of a pure 5000 feet vertical drop to the valley below. The yellow land below stretched as far as 50 miles, where the other side of the cliff stood. The whole sky was mostly grey with a little blue. That day's temperature reached as high as 5 degree Fahrenheit. A warm day compared to others.

He loved Mars. Though it was all barren and arid, it was still his home planet. One day, this land would be green. They were working toward this goal for more than 20 years already.

He was among the first generation who were born there. Ever since knowing how to wear a suit, he had been exploring this planet tirelessly. In fact, he just came back from a long journey. His home base was just right down there, waiting.

 _One more day just to climb down? Not my style._ He took a deep breath, charged forward and jumped from the cliff, watching the bottom fast approaching him with a big grin.

 _Wheeeeeeeep! Yeah, go ahead and try this on earth._

He pushed a button on his suit. 6 small jets on his feet and hands blew up a large dust cloud around him, slowed him down and let him landed on the bottom like an Ironman. Mars gravity was only 38% of the earth, so the jets could do their job easily.

"Hey, kiddo. You know the jump could have killed you, right? " A guard came up near him. He had seen Will performing this kind of stunts too many times to be alerted. "Your old man will have a heart attack seeing you like this."

"Yeah, I know, so please don't tell him." Will smiled and nodded, "Come on, give me a break. You know there are a million things outside that can kill me too, right?"

"But at least not spat like a fly at the front gate." The guard said, "Do it somewhere far away from the cave."

"Yes, sir!" With a salute he entered the colony.

That cave was supported by concrete walls on all sides, going deep into the cliff. Here temperature were maintained at 76 degree Fahrenheit with just a little energy. There were no radiation hazard like on the ground, impossible to leak any air out, and most importantly, they found frozen ice at the deepest end of the cave, which was a vital factor of survival on Mars.

They purified the water and grew their plants. Mars atmosphere was mostly CO2, so plants got plenty of everything they need. In return they provide oxygen and food to the colony. Everything was working great for all those years. The cave population had grown to 600.

However, just 2 years ago. The Earth had lost contact.

At first, everyone thought the satellites above were malfunctioning. After thorough testing they found out the satellites were all working fine. It was just the whole Earth was no talking.

No one was panic, handling all kinds of crises was their specialty, until one day, during a fierce dust storm, a truck size boulder rolled down the cliff, and destroyed one third of their covered solar panels.

Unlike everything else, solar panels could only be made on Earth. With only two thirds of panels remained, they had a power shortage. Without enough power for the lights, the plants wouldn't do as much photosynthesis to produce oxygen. Without oxygen people would die. Simple math, really.

Just two years ago, it was a problem that could be easily solved, just asked someone back on Earth to send another 200 solar panels, and viola! Lights up again! However, they had been trying to contacting Earth nonstop, yet not a beep back. Everyone was fearing the worst.

Will walked inside the control center of the cave, and found 20 eyes staring at him, including his old man in the middle. He knew he had to gave them the bad news.

"Sorry, guys, I found the Chinese probe "ZhanShen", but its solar panels were all destroyed during the landing."

Everyone shook their heads disappointed. Someone asked, "So can you go to 'Pathfinder' or 'Viking 1', like the guy in that old movie?"

"No, they are too far." Will said, "And their panels' efficiency were too low to be of any use."

His father, Tom Fisher, nodded, "Son. At least you found it. Good job! It was a Hail Mary anyway. Come, we have good news and bad news."

Will said, "Well, I got a long day, good news first, please." He sounded tired.

"We just made contact with Earth."

"Wow!" Will jumped and showed his fist, "Finally!" Then he saw no one was happy, so he stopped. "My God! How bad are the bad ones?"

"First, their society was destroyed by a nuclear war."

 _Oh, that's a big bummer._

"Second, the ones we contacted, the Ark people, they said they could only spare 50 of those panels."

 _The news is just getting worse._ Will shook his head. _Not sure I can take more of those?_

"Third, they have no rocket fuel to send them down to us. They can deliver the panels to our orbit, but we have to find a way to get them down."

"That's BULLSHIT!" Will protested aloud, "The Earth have plenty of fuel!"

"Son, that's before the apocalypse." Tom put his hand on his son's back, "But now those 'Ark People' are using nuclear powered Ionic Engines only. They only have enough rocket fuel to land their 'Exodus' ship once, so they couldn't spare any for us. I understand their concern."

"Then what should we do, dad?" Will looked at his old man with admiration. He was the one who made this community thrive in a hostile environment. He could find a solution for everything.

"In this dark times, we should all work together to solve any problems they threw at us." Tom looked around at each person, let them feel his confidence. " We can manufacture our own rocket fuel right here, Mars atmosphere has carbon dioxide, nitrogen and methane. All the necessary ingredients for fuel. In 2 months we will have enough to send a rocket up there, pick up the payload and bring it down. We just need a good pilot who's also a daredevil."

"Ha, funny you mentioned it, dad." Will smiled. "You are looking at him."

===#=#=#=#=#===

Back on Earth, New Metro.

"Alright, Ethan, just stay still." Becca took out her injector, "It will not hurt much."

A boy of 12 years old just sat there, staring at a wall with empty expression.

She squeezed the trigger. A dose of the black liquid was shot into the boy's neck, dispated under the skin immediately.

"Wow, you are such a good boy! No crying." Becca were smiling. "I wish I had a candy for you."

Ethan had no response whatsoever. Becca asked Bryan, "What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know." Bryan frowned, "I used to see their family nearby. Today I found him wandering around without a suit. So I brought him in. He wouldn't say anything."

"He must have went through some traumatic event." She suggested, "Just give him some time." Bryan nodded.

Nicole came in and saw the boy, "Helllllo, Ettthan!" She exclaimed in a childish way. " My smart boy! Where are your mom and sister?"

Ethan jumped into her arms, which surprised everyone. He started crying.

Nicole kept holding him for a long long time. No one said anything that night.

… …

"Hey, doc." the next day Bryan found Becca outside up in a fire escape stairs, "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Uh...sure," Becca put down her binocular, "How's Ethan?"

"He's fine. Sleeping in Nicole's bed now." Bryan said, "He went through a lot."

"Yeah, this is a very cruel world." Becca agreed. "I had never thought humans could be this bad, before I landed here."

Bryan had an uneasy look, "But if you read the history books, you'll know we were actually always like this."

"You got a point." Becca nodded, "But you are not here to talk about history, right?"

"Nope." Bryan said, "Doc, I want to get the dose, and could you teach me how to use that injector?"

"Does Nicole know you are getting it?" Becca asked.

"She doesn't need to know. It's my own decision." Bryan said, " Plus, Ethan is fine, physically."

"OK, I'll give you the dose once I am done here." Becca replied, "By the way, could you tell me more about those 'butchers'?" She pointed at the tall tower, which was the only skyscraper left in New Metro.

"Well…" Bryan thought about it for a while, "They claim to be the members of the Second Dawn, a cult that says…"

"I know what Second Dawn is." _The biggest end of days cult led by no other than the billionaire Bill Cadogan, who accumulated his wealth by taking away all the possession of his faithful followers._ Becca remembered the videos she watched from the Internet before. _I have some history with this cult. My husband, Chris Davidson, was one of them._

"Alright. They came here even before the nuclear war. Everyone were waiting for the bunker to open so they could be saved. The only problem is that the bunker was never opened. So the survivors are stuck together in that tower."

"So they never thought Bill Cadogan was dead, and no one will come?"

Bryan shrugged, "They are fanatic cultists. None of them will believe that their messiah is dead, especially in this desperate time."

"I never understand those crazy zealots." Becca used the binocular again.

Through the lens she saw someone put 2 new heads on spikes, "Yup, I think I found them now."


	5. Chapter 5 - Taking Over

Circling around the Earth, the newly formed Ark looked like a gigantic wheel in the space. In the center, a slim and long spaceship "Exodus" was the axle. It was firmly held by 12 large "wheel spokes", which acted as the transportation tunnels plus pipeline conduits. The "spokes" spread out to the giant metal ring, forming a star hub, which was connected to 12 very different shapes of space stations. All those stations were permanently welded to the ring, allowing the maximum opening for internal tunnels.

In the former Russian Mir Station, people were busy taking some boxes out of the storage.

"36, 37, 38…" Michael Jaha was counting the solar panels when someone came in, "Chancellor, may I have a word with you?"

"In a minute," Michael didn't even turn his head, and kept counting, "39, 40…"

"You don't need to count them any more." the man gave him a surprise, "We are not sending these panels."

"What?!" Michael turned around and looked at this man, finally recognized him, "Hugo Sydney? Why are you here?"

Hugo spread his palms, "I am here to inform you that the council has decided not to send these to Mars."

"Without my vote?" Jaha was angry. "I am the Chancellor! Why the council made this decision without me?"

"With all due respect, sir." Hugo kept his politeness. "We all know you are the one who made the promise without our consent. So you would have some bias on this issue. Plus, you cannot change the result anyway: the vote was unanimous: we all think Mars colony should fix their own problems."

"This is ridiculous!" Michael tried not to shout, "You knew their situation. Their people will die if we don't send them."

Hugo shrugged, "Some people on Mars have to die either way. They should have learned to control their population."

Michael shook his head, "They had no idea the Earth was coming to an end. Their previous instruction was to populate as fast as possible, and the Earth would support them, but now not only we had broken that promise, we are breaking this one as well? They will hate us to guts."

Hugo sneered, "Ha...Let them hate us. What can they do about it? They are like at least 30 million miles away. Besides, we have 6000 people, and they have what? 600?"

Michael said sadly, "Without these panels, they will have to reduce to 400."

"That's right, Chancellor." Hugo said, "Even if we send these to them, they still have to find a way to kill 100 of their own. So there is not much difference."

"You called 100 people's lives 'not much difference'?" Michael was astonished by his indifference, "Losing 100 people is bad enough. Now we betrayed them and made them lose another 100? Any way they see it, that's WAR."

"No worries." Hugo even smiled. "We already thought about it, and we are making a plan so they will never know."

"Oh God help us all!" Michael facepalmed himself, "Who elected monsters like you?"

===#=#=#=#=#===

In the urban area of New Metro. A man in a camouflage suit was moving silently toward a collapsed house.

Making sure no one was nearby, he searched the building room by room, very soon he found 2 decaying bodies in the basement.

He gather wood and made a pyre, put those bodies on it, and lit the fire.

Hearing some footsteps, he disappeared into a tree.

A few people with normal radiation suits came in, saw the fire burning, but didn't know what to make of it, so they went away one by one.

Darkness came as the Sun set, the man rappelled down from the tree and walked to the burnt-out pyre. He started to gather those ashes and put them into a bag.

 **Gruhh...** He stepped onto some glass and instantly dropped down to the ground.

Dead quiet was all around. No one seemed to be coming. He moved his feet and took a look at what he just stepped on.

It was a picture frame of the younger him, his father and his mother. He held the picture still for a long time, then carefully folded it into a pocket.

Looking at the tall tower in the distance, he knew that's where he needed to go next.

 _My mission is to come here to investigate that UFO, or whatever it is. Getting my parents ashes was just a side job._

But at the same time Joe Whitman knew the real reason he went all the way there was for his parents, the UFO thing was just an excuse to get in the city.

Once again, he moved silently along the shadows, and merged into the darkness.

===#=#=#=#=#===

Radiology Lab Bunker, New Metro.

10 families gathered inside the bunker. Some of them were there for the first time. They were curious. That place was big, plenty of room to hold hundreds of people.

Bryan was the one who found those families one by one and led them there, against Nicole's strongest objection. Usually Nicole always won, but this time Bryan was not bulging at all, so all she could do was crying in her bed with Ethan.

Becca showed them the silver suitcase and the vials inside. She announced, "People, if we all united together, we can fight against the butchers, before they took us out one by one like Ethan's family."

They murmured. All of them were well adapted to hiding and avoiding any harm. That's how they survived that long. It was quite a miracle itself that they trusted Bryan so much that they followed him here. Banding together of course was a good idea, but fighting the butchers? It was a feat no one dared to try.

Becca saw through their hesitation, " I know you are all afraid of them. I am too. But if you allow those cannibals picking us up one after another, sooner or later, we will all end up in their stomach. It's time that we should take the fight to them, and kill them before them kill all of us."

"Are you out of your mind?!" A man shouted, "They are strong, they have weapons and the numbers. How do we even fight them?"

Becca spoke loud, "Yes, they appear to be big and strong, but we have the element of surprise. Butchers never thought we would fight back. So we could lure them out and set traps." She looked around, saw people started to listen, their eyes were all on her. "And we could have a big advantage, that we don't need to wear suits outside." She pointed at her case, "Once you are all injected with this. Your body will start to metabolize radiation, and turning it into energy. You will become faster and stronger. So even the butchers look bigger, they are not your equal. With some fighting training, I have confidence that we will defeat them."

"But who will train us?" The man asked, "Do you know some kung fu?"

Becca wanted to say no, but then from her brain appeared many illustrations and demonstrations. So much information suddenly emerged that she felt a headache, held her head and bowed down.

Just when people worried if she was sick, Becca stood up and said, "Maybe I know some. What kind of fighting you want to learn?"

"Jujitsu?" Another man blurted out.

Becca moved swiftly to him and twisted his arm, "Like this?" The man cried out, "Ouch...Ouch!"

"Wow, how about tiger fist?" Someone was almost joking.

Becca lowered her pose, raised her hands up like two claws, then shook her head, "This is not practical in real fights."

Those people were getting enthusiastic. "How about Krav Maga?" "I want to learn Aikido." "Do you know how to throw knives?"...

To their amazement, Becca was like an encyclopedia of martial art. She knew every fighting style in the world! Some started to think, _With her, maybe we can really have a chance._

===#=#=#=#=#===

Bill Cadogen's bunker. Washington DC.

"What is the meaning of this list?" Bill was angry. "Are you taking MY authority?"

"Yes, I am." SAM said it like just daily business, "If you want this bunker to last longer, I will not allow you to give orders any more."

Bill's mouth was wide open. _This AI is crazy! No one dares talking to me like that!_

SAM continued his nonchalant talk, "In the past, you have given out several orders that were destructive to the common welfare of everyone in this bunker. So from now on, I set the rules and you will have to obey."

"What?!" Bill was astonished, "I AM the God here. How dare did you say such blasphemy!"

"Actually I am the one who is more like a god, because I controls everything here. If you don't like me taking over, I can disable myself, and the bunker will last about 9 months at most." SAM sounded like matter-of-fact, " And everyone in this bunker knows it. My estimate is that they will have a mutiny in 6 months and kill you. I can take over after that."

Bill shook his head, _every AI he met was a pain in the behind._ He considered the options for a long while, then asked, "If I give you the power, what will become of me?"

"You are still their spiritual leader, you can keep preaching, just cannot give out real orders."

"Hm…" He thought it might not be too bad, "So what is this list?"

"This list is the things every member is required to do everyday." Sam explained. "Every morning, they need to go to the treadmill to run at least 3 hours, generating enough power for their own consumption, then they will go to their learning consoles to learn new skills, which I will be the tutor. After that I will assign jobs to them to test their skills."

"That's a full day's work! They will be exhausted."

"I am counting on that." SAM said, "When they are tired they will be less likely to cause trouble."

"But why learning new skills? They already know a lot."

"Not enough in my standard. Human brains are capable of learning multiple skills. You are just too lazy to do it."

"OK, that's fine, but why giving out rations based on their skills?" Bill pointed at one of the rules.

"The useful people should be well taken care of. The ones who don't want to learn are just burden of our society."

"Wait." Bill realized something. "So is my ration based on my skill too?"

"Absolutely." SAM confirmed. "You are very good at deceiving people, but poor at every other skills. So you don't have much to eat."

"Oh my God! What I have done?" Bill couldn't help whining. "I let a demon inside my bunker!"

"This rule is nothing compared to the next one." SAM added, "This 'no sex' rule was specially made for you."

"What? Why I cannot have sex with any of my members?"

"Because newborn babies will increase the burden of the bunker a lot. Since you don't have any anti-contraception pill or condoms, you have to stop having sex entirely, just to be safe."

"What if I break this rule?" Bill was so upset. "I am just human, after all." Over one fourth of his followers were young girls. _Oh, the good old days will be gone!_

"Then I will just kill you after the baby is born, to even things out."

"Oh, noooo…" Bill started crying loud.


	6. Chapter 6 - Survival Criteria

New Metro. Winter of 2054.

As the only tall building remained in the city, Mega Tower was a miracle: 2 years before, it was a short building with only 50 floors in the downtown area, a dwarf among giants. There were many skyscrapers that were much taller and stronger, but when the atomic bomb hit, all its neighbors were blown to smithereens or pushed over by the blast wave. Somehow the Mega Tower narrowly avoided most of the impacts of the nuclear explosion, and stood proudly with all the floors intact. It was a living proof that sometimes survival was not for the strongest, but the luckiest.

The Second Dawn members who escaped their demise saw this building as a sign from their Messiah, Bill Cadogan. They believed that Bill was asking them to wait inside. There was no coincident, at least to them, that their cult's biggest bunker was just a few blocks away.

"Almighty Cadogan, please accept my humble contribution, come here and save all of us." Every morning they will pray, put some valuable on the table, then ate.

While the rest of the survivors trying hard to find can food and vegetables, they ate only meat, mostly humans. Ironically the supply was plenty. Bodies were everywhere. Radiation preserved the fresh from rotting for a long time, and they kept finding more people everyday. Among all the remained citizens, those cultists actually were the best fed. For that they thanked Cadogan again every night before sleep.

A small group of 4 Second Dawn members patrolled their territory just like every other day. Hearing some faint beeping, they followed the sound and walked into a parking lot, which had a Tesla Model U flashing lights in the center.

Those four exchanged suspicious glances. How did this car got here?

While they were distracted, four ghosts behind them emerged from dark shades and jumped on their back. Each one swiftly plunged a knife through the Second Dawn guys' suits into their necks. Then they jumped away as fast as they dashed in.

Those poor guys couldn't even yell for help. The long knives had opened their throats, all they could do was swinging their swords and hammers wildly, hitting nothing, before losing too much blood and collapsing onto the ground.

Those four ghosts took off their camouflage. Becca, Bryan, one young man and a young woman held their knives watching those guys convulsing on the ground dying.

Becca took out a radio and asked, "Hey, Nicole, do you see anyone coming?"

The radio replied, "No, Darky. You got lucky. No one is near."

 _Now I am Darky? This girl always likes to give nicknames to everyone._ Becca thought. "OK, Nicole, good job. Thanks for your help!"

"I just don't want Stinky got killed by your stupid plan. 4 on 4, really? Darky, you do know they are all big fighters, right?"

"But we have better close-combat training." Becca pressed the radio and said, "Plus you are holding a sniper rifle on the high ground. We had nothing to worry about." _And don't forget, I am the one who taught you how to use the gun._

The radio was silent for a little while, then said, "Yeah, but your plan still sucks."

 _Why some girls always talk like that?_ Becca shook her head, saw all those 4 bodies finally stopped twitching, then took a look at Bryan, "Are you OK?"

Bryan wiped the blood from his knife with trembling hands, and stared at the body below, "I...I...am OK."

"Good, now let's move them to the ditch." Becca ordered everyone, "Today we need to do this as many times as possible, before they realized it's dangerous to go in small groups."

The young man asked, "What happens if they find out we are killing them in this guerrilla style?"

Becca thought about it, and said, "If they follow the usual military tactic, they will all get into the tower and come out only in large groups."

"How do we get them then?" The young girl asked.

Becca replied confidently, "We will wait. When they patrol in big groups, they will have much less chance of finding people to eat. They will be hungry soon, that's when we will strike."

"Why?" The young man couldn't understand, "Even when they are hungry, they are still bigger and stronger than us."

Becca smiled, "Survival is not about being the biggest and strongest. What do you think they will do to each other, when they are hungry?"

===#=#=#=#=#===

Bill Cadogan's bunker, Washington DC.

"What did you find out from this member?" SAM asked Bill Cadogan, "He walked all the way from the New Metro. Must have something important to tell you."

Bill shook his head casually, "Not much. He was in a bad situation when he found us. We learned just a little before he died."

"So what is the 'a little'?"

"He said there are about 100 of our Second Dawn members surviving in the Mega Tower. Someone or something was hunting them like predators. They wouldn't dare to come out, and when they do, only in big groups. Now their food is running very low. They started to fight each other, and even eat their own people. This member asked us to go and rescue them. Saying that they have been waiting for my 'saving' for months." Bill almost laughed, "If only I had the power to do so, who knows now I couldn't even sleep with anyone?"

SAM corrected him, "It's for your own good. Did you notice how much more they respect you now? To them you became literally a 'saint'."

Bill chucked bitterly, "Yeah, a saint of celibacy enforced by an AI. So beautiful!"

SAM ignored his sarcasm like always, "So what will you do? Will you send someone to bring them here?"

Bill replied, "No, no, no. You are the almighty God. You tell me what to do. I am just another humble expandable member."

SAM ignored his sarcastic words again, "Our bunker obviously is at the maximum capacity. I cannot allow anyone to come in, but you have the biggest bunker in the New Metro, you can go there and open it for them. Will you do it?"

"For what?" Bill sounded like SAM was a 2-year-old, which was actually true, "I thought you were smarter than me."

SAM was confused. "You don't want to save your people?"

"Hell no!" Bill explained the reason pragmatically. "They are all cannibals, who should be burnt eternally in hell. That bunker should be opened in the future, by my son or daughter if you allow me to have one."

"That's very selfish." SAM was stunned, "What about the things you always preaching? Forgiveness? Empathy? All members are Family?"

"No, that's ideal vs reality. This bunker will last only 40 years max, right? And how long will the land be survivable without a suit? You said it. 200 years, right? So isn't it much better that our people should come out 40 years later, and move to the New Metro bunker, when this one can no longer support us? You are the AI. Tell me if that's good logic or not."

"It's perfectly logical." SAM agreed after some calculation, then asked, "But… Isn't that very unethical to leave all 100 of your members to die?"

"Unethical? From an AI? What a joke!" Bill laughed out loud.

===#=#=#=#=#===

Control Room in Mount Weather. Jason Wallace finally got in contact with Whitman, "Joe, you were outside for too long. Your oxygen should have run out a few days ago." He held the radio tight.

"No worries, Sir. I found some oxygen supply locally." The radio replied, "I have an important discovery, that I need to stay here a little longer. And I might no longer need the oxygen tanks."

"What do you mean you don't need the oxygen tanks?" Jason couldn't understand his words, "What did you find in New Metro?"

"Sir, I don't know it exactly myself. I just saw a group of people running around without suits or oxygen mask. None of them appeared to be sick. I am going to investigate them myself."

"Hm... No suits and oxygen in a highly contaminated area? It does sound very interesting." Jason was intrigued. "Be safe. Your wife will be in labor soon. You need to come back here."

"Yes, Mr. President. I always keep that in mind." Whitman acknowledged it, then he changed the subject, "Sir, are you still interested in the UFO that landed here?"

"Not really. What about it?"

" It was an escape pod. When I arrived here, I saw some people moving it away toward the tower, but I did spot some letters on it, 'P-O-L-I-S'. Does it ring a bell?"

"Oh, it was Polaris. The doomed space station." Jason remembered a report. "Last month we intercepted some radio messages from space that they will blow up a station called 'Polaris'. Our radar later reported that they actually did it. It was very strange that the escape pod didn't come down within the debris field, which was 1000 miles away."

"Someone was flying it obviously. What should we do about the pilot?"

"Nothing." Jason determined, "They hated it so much that they shot nuclear missiles at it, so people from that station might be very bad or dangerous. Keep the distance. Survival is your first criteria."

"Roger, Sir." Joe Whitman brooded silently. _The group inside that tower was hunting and eating people everyday, and finally this lady had the courage of leading people to take on those monsters. Should I remain neutral as ordered, or should I do something?_


	7. Chapter 7 - Saving

In New Metro, Second Dawn had built the biggest bunker in the whole east coast. It was rumor that it could support up to 1200 people for 50 years. Inside that bunker was everything anyone ever needed: food, water, electricity, comfort, and of course, lots of guns. In the event of a Doomsday, their Messiah, Bill Cadogan was supposed to be there opening the gate for all the 12th level members. Yet no one had seen him ever since that faithful day two years ago. So all the members could do was waiting, and waiting, and waiting...

After 2 years of soul-crushing wait, after they did all the unspeakable things to survive, just when they were losing their hope, a mysterious object fell from the sky.

Of course they knew it was just an escape pod, but in their mind, it must be something much much more. No doubt it was Bill Cadogan himself sent it as a gift to them. They had to respect it. So they moved it next to the bunker's heavy entrance gate. They bowed down to the escape pod, and prayed, "Thank you my lord Cadogan! Thank you for delivering this gift! We know you will never abandon us! We will use it to open this bunker."

The pod's rockets were disassembled carefully and were aimed toward the gate. The flame was lit. Those rockets roared and exhaled bright red flames toward the gate, like 2 dragons unleashing their fury.

It lasted a good 2 minutes until every last drop of fuel was consumed. The big hall was filled with suffocating smoke. Second Dawn members had to wait for the toxic gas evacuated before they could enter again.

The bunker gate had some scorch marks, but nothing else. Those guys obviously forgot that it was designed to withstand the heat of nuclear blast. Rocket flame couldn't even make a dent to it.

Disappointed, they tried hooked up the electric wires of the pod to electrocute the gate. Same result. Nothing.

They took some metal pieces away from the pod, and tried to use them as the key. Of course it wouldn't work either.

Only then someone realized that the pod was not the key to the bunker, but others were stubborn. They claimed it must be a test of faith: if they remained 'believers', eventually Lord Cadogan would show them the way in.

Therefore the pod was left there next to the entrance gate, every morning and night, Second Dawn cannibals would come in and pray for their savior's return.

Their meat were running out. Many were sick of radiation. Pills were gone a few weeks before. Even their suits were tattered by frequent uses.

Their salvation never came. To be fair, in the name of survival, they had indeed gone too far.

===#=#=#=#=#===

Inside the university's Radiology Lab Bunker.

"Are you guys out of your minds?" Nicole shouted while she was holding Ethan's hand. "It's a suicide plan, plain and simple."

Becca didn't like her outburst like this a bit, especially in front of the whole crowd, "Why is it suicidal? We have enough numbers and skills to take them down. Don't you want the killing to stop?"

Nicole stood on a chair, and started to make her points, "Those butchers are dying. We all saw it. I'd say just let them be. We wait another month, there will be just bodies, who couldn't harm us at all."

"Yeah, that's right." "She got a good point." Some agreed.

Becca started her counter-speech, "People, they are the ones who will do anything to survive, so please don't underestimate how long they can last, and how many people they are still holding in the tower. Your friends and relatives might be there, waiting desperately for you to rescue them."

Of course she said that to the 10 families, not Nicole. They all had people they cared somewhere in the city. She could see that they started to agree with her.

So she raised her fist, "Right now they are weak and hungry. If we strike, we will defeat them and save people from the tower. It's the day we have been waiting for for months already."

The bunker felt silent. Everyone was considering her words.

Nicole interrupted, "So Darky, you are willing to sacrifice some of us so you can be a hero? Is that it? You want to be the savior?"

"No, I am the furthest thing from a hero." Becca replied bitterly. "But I do want to save as many as I can, while I still can. Right now it's the best time to do so."

"See? That's why I call you 'Darky'." Nicole said, "You say things so fancy, so righteous, but you are just trying to get us killed."

Becca shook her head slightly. She knew Nicole was against her decisions since day one, but this was too important. "Nicole, I know we don't see eye to eye, but this operation is vital to our community here. As long as they are in that tower, we will never be safe. It's time to end it, once for all."

She glanced from left to right, looking at each person directly in the eyes, then said, "OK, you all heard our points. I am asking for volunteers here. You don't need to go if you agree with Nicole."

Bryan raised his hand firmly, "Then I volunteer!"

"Stinky! No!" Nicole's face went white. She jumped down the chair and tried to grab his arms, which she failed miserably. Bryan's arm was still as steel.

Using another hand, Bryan hold her down and said, "Hey, Princess! You know I will go."

"That's why I hate her!" Nicole was angry. "Every time she asked you to jump, you asked how high. You never listened to me! Do you want to get killed and leave me here all alone?"

"Sorry Princess." Bryan said with guilt, "I wish I could stay with you, but I can't."

Nicole looked at him with tears circling in her eyes. Suddenly she climbed back on the chair and shouted, "OK, everyone need to fight this battle. Whoever doesn't go, I will personally shoot his brain out with my rifle."

Someone spoke up, "Hey, Princess, that's not how volunteering works!" Others laughed.

She took out her sniper rifle and aimed at him, "I don't care. If Stinky goes, you all go."

"OK, OK." The man raised his hands high. "I pledge my fealty to you, your highness." More laughter burst out.

Amid the crowd, the little boy Ethan cowered down and braced himself silently, tears came out. Nicole jumped off the chair and hugged him, "I am sorry, Ethan. Did I scare you?"

He shook his head, quietly whisper, "I don't want you to go there. That place is worst than hell."

"Who says going?" Nicole said, "I didn't promise anything."

"But wherever Bryan goes, you always go with him."

 _Oh, this boy is smart! What a pity he became like this!_ Nicole held him tight.

===#=#=#=#=#===

Let's go "Ascende Superius". Take a look at the giant ring up in the space, aka the Ark.

Another council meeting were convened, but all they were talking was about how to deceive Mars.

Michael Jaha couldn't stand it any more, "So now I see. You guys want to make them think you will make the delivery of the panels, but in fact will not. There is just a little problem."

Theodore Kane asked, "What is it?"

Jaha said, "It's called karma. Happens a lot. Whatever you do to others, they will do the same to you."

Kana laughed a little, "They are at least 30 million miles away. What can they do to us?"

"Well, I don't know." Jaha said sacarically, "Kill 200 of us? Or one third of us? Karma works in mysterious ways."

"Don't be ridiculous, Mr. Jaha." Kane said, "The council have considered all the possibilities. That's why we will send the ship 'Prometheus' to them."

"Yeah, a ship with an empty payload." Jaha said, "You give them hope then destroy it. If they ever find out, imagine how furious they will feel."

"So let's make sure they will not find out. Shall we?" Kane said, "That's why today we are here to make a perfect plan."

"Good luck with that." Jaha stood up and left the room.

===#=#=#=#=#===

180 million miles away. Mars colony in Valles Marineris.

Tom Fisher, along with 10 other people in the control room, received the message from the Ark, "Ship 'Prometheus' was out today. In 2 months it will deliver the payload. You can track its location with the same frequency here. Good luck. -Theodore Kane."

Everyone felt the relief, which they hadn't had in a very long time. Even though it was still a grim outlook ahead, at least 100 people would be saved.

Tom frowned on the signature. _Theodore Kane? Where is Michael Jaha?_ He thought Jaha would have been the one who signed it off.

 _No matter, as long as we will receive those panels, which is extremely important for us now. Will, my son, you'd better not screw this up._


	8. Chapter 8 - For our Future

New Metro. Midnight just passed. In a world without electricity, the whole city was as dark and quiet as a cemetery.

Ten shadows moved silently along the sides of streets toward the Mega Tower. Up ahead, a watch post ran by Second Dawn was getting closer and closer. A guard heard something. He stuck his head out and was instantly cut down. A heavy "thump" was the only sound he could make, when his headless body fell with spasms of blood.

It went more smoothly than Becca had expected. She led the first assault team and passed all 3 watch posts. None of them could raise the alarm. Once they entered the tower, a massacre ensued. Those Second Dawn guys were big and strong, but most of them were clumsy like drunkards. Becca could predict their every move, way before they did it. So she swung her Bushido blade left and right, up and down, like a dancer performing her masterpiece. Behind her a series of bodies fell to the ground.

However, she made a big mistake, which almost cost her life.

On the third floor, she sliced open a man's throat, and kicked him to a corner. Then she turned around and thrust the blade into someone else's stomach. The man in the corner was tougher than she had thought, as he struggled to stand up then charged at her back. At that moment, Becca didn't know that her waist was about to be pierced by a big knife.

 **Panggggg...**

From far away came the sound of a gunshot. Becca was crashed to the floor by the man who just jumped her from behind. To her surprise, that man was dead with a big bullet hole in his head. His hand still held the sharp weapon tightly.

Pushing the body away, she took out the radio and said, "Nicole, thank you!"

The radio replied with confusion, "For what?"

 _What just happened?_ Becca wasn't sure. _Who else has a sniper rifle?_ _Plus, Nicole's aim is not so good that she can shoot a moving target. Let along in the head..._ _Uh...Maybe Nicole wanted to shoot me, but hit the man by accident?_ Becca felt a chill, then she rejected this thought. _Nicole is not this bad. Is she?_

The chip inside her head instantly denied her suspicion. The size of the bullet hole was too big to be Nicole's gun.

There was another man coming down the stairs. Becca stopped her thinking and engaged the battle again.

The screaming and shrieking went on for about ten more minutes. Over all, 54 members of Second Dawn were killed by ten well-trained ninjas led by Becca. Only two of them were seriously injured, but none were fatal. It was an overwhelmingly victory for Becca.

It was also a disappointing one. When they searched the tower floor by floor, all they saw were pieces of bodies and lots of bones. Those Second Dawn monsters probably had consumed over a thousand people during the 2 years of their bloody reign. Becca silently sighed as she went through the rooms one by one, and witnessed only more unspeakable horrors.

 **Ahhh…..** A scream came up from below. It sounded like a young girl.

Becca and others hurried down the stairs. In the underground garage they found some dead bodies chained to a wall, among them a naked girl alive. Next to her was a 40 year old woman's body, who had many blood-soaked cuts.

The naked girl was about 15 years old. Pale skin and red hair. She got some bruises on her head, some red abrasion on her wrists and ankles, but other than that she was unharmed.

Becca carefully approached her, noticing that she was very scared.

"It's OK, It's OK." Becca said it with a smile, "You are safe now. No one will hurt you any more. We are here to save you."

The girl looked at her with an intense stare, making her feeling uneasy.

 _She must have gone through a lot, like Ethan._ Becca thought, so she asked, "Hi, sweetie. What is your name?"

The girl kept staring at her with full alert, then she said, "My...My name is… Helen. Yeah, Helen."

Becca took off her jacket and cover her body, "Helen, that's a nice name. We will get you out of here."

"Thank you, Becca!" She said.

"How do you know my name?" Becca was surprised.

The girl said,"We all heard of your name. We came from the north to find you." She pointed at the body next to her, "That was my mother. She heard from rumors that someone named Becca could make people survive without a suit. So she brought me here. It is just too bad that you didn't come yesterday, when she was still alive..." She started to cry.

Someone found the key and unchained her. Becca wiped her tears and said, "Don't worry, I will take care of you, Helen."

She nodded, then shrunk into a cuddle with Becca.

===#=#=#=#=#===

The following days were the happiest of Becca's life since the apocalypse.

No one wanted to get into the tower of bones. So they settled down in the buildings of nearby streets, where they found Becca's escape pod. In that room, some artist started to paint the wall with recent memories: mushroom cloud, the escape pod, doorway to hell, the man-eating monsters, and in the middle of all, Becca the Savior.

Becca almost laughed when she saw her own depiction: a naked woman in dark figure. She asked the artist jokingly, "Hey, why did you draw me like that? Did you ever see me naked?"

The artist replied, "Sorry! It's just an artistic way of expression. In paintings of old days, every Goddess is naked. So by painting you without clothes, you became the holy Savior to us."

"I am flattered." She was delighted. "But I am just a normal person like you."

Helen came in. She saw the painting and snickered.

"What? It was just an expression." Becca smiled herself.

"Could you teach me more of the Kung Fu?" Helen asked, " I really like to learn from you."

Becca laughed, "You have plenty of chances. No rush." She looked out of window and pointed, "There, we are setting up a new playground. You and Ethan can have lots of fun there."

"I don't want that." Helen said seriously, "I prefer fighting against you."

"Relax, Helen. You are safe here." Becca smoothed her shining red hair, "I promise we will protect you."

"You never know." Helen said with a wink, "One day you might need my protection."

 _Ambitious little girl!_ Becca regarded Helen as her kindred spirit. She was so much like her in the teenage years. "Alright, I will teach you Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, which is the best for us girls to defend ourselves."

===#=#=#=#=#===

In the middle of the night, the Mega Tower finally had 2 visitors, after months of desolation.

"Hey, Princess, why are we getting into the tower?" Bryan asked when walking up the stairs. Not a single soul was near. The tower of bones had too many horror stories.

He was expecting another "Shut Up Stinky", but instead got a smile from Nicole, "You will see."

10 floors up, they entered a room with almost pristine condition: white walls, dark marble floor and working wooden doors, along with all the furniture and useless electronic gadgets.

They lied down on the ultra-soft mattress, feeling the long-lost comfort, and remembering the good old nostalgic days.

"I thought I would miss my previous life, when I had 50 servants just for my own. I could order them to do anything I wanted." Nicole looked at the perfect ceiling decorated with glittering stars and said, "But then I find out I actually don't give it a damn. I was a miserable spoil brat even with 50 people taking care of me."

"Wow, is that why you want everyone to call you 'Princess'?"

"No, my father used to call me that." Nicole started to dwell on a world long gone, "He became too busy all the time. So I asked all the servants to call me Princess. This way I could feel like he was still in the house."

"Oh, daddy issues." Bryan nodded, "No wonder you are so clingy."

Nicole punched his shoulder, "What did you say?!"

"Ouch! I am sorry."

"Stinky, you are not doing so well either." Nicole reminded him, "Remember you almost jumped a bridge?"

"I did jump that bridge." Bryan laughed a little. "That was like a hundred feet high. I still don't know how I survived that."

Nicole giggled, "Anyway, you get my point. I can see you are still being suicidal many times. Like you always risked your life for others, like you joined Becca for her damned missions… Do you think your life isn't worth living?"

Bryan watched the stars on the ceiling blinking, lost in thoughts.

"Hey, Stinky, are you listening?" Nicole pushed his shoulder slightly. "Do you still have those suicidal thinking?"

He became serious, "No, actually I did find meanings of my life, and the reason I kept fighting in this dark world. So everything I did, I did it so we can have a better future."

"Really?" Nicole raise her head and looked at Bryan, found that he was looking at her with such gentle glamour that her heart beat fast.

"It's true. Every time I looked at you, you filled me up with love and warmth. I want to protect you from from all those cruelties. I know I make you worry many times. For that I am truly sorry, but all I want, is to make this society a better place to live in, and we can be happy together." He circled his fingers around. "This room represents the glory of the past, but I care more about our future on the ground. That's why I always risked my life..."

Suddenly, like a lightning just struck him, Bryan stood up from the bed, then knelt in front of Nicole, "Will you marry me, Nicole Trump?"

Nicole grinned so hard she couldn't stop, "Yes, yes, yes…" She hugged him and bounced around in bed.

"Sorry I didn't bring a ring or something." Bryan apologized, "The proposal is just a thought inside me for a long time…"

Nicole's finger was on his lips, stopping him from saying anything. They looked into each other's eyes deeply, and found each other's desire like fire.

A long and everlasting kiss was the only natural thing to do next.

The rest of the night shouldn't exist in a Teen rated book.

===#=#=#=#=#====

"Oh, love me!" Whitman jumped down a small tree. He dropped his rifle and ran like hell.

Behind him, a huge gorilla chased him at a speed no one would have believed.

 _Why me?_ He thought. _I am always so careful. Why is this still happening to me? I hate the author.  
_

He reached the edge of a hill. Without thinking, he slid down one of the paths. A 45 degree slope instantly put him at a speed over 50 miles per hour going down. His radiation suit were torn into shreds. His equipment broke off and scattered along the path. No matter. The only goal was to fall down the hill as fast as possible, before the hungry beast caught up.

The world became a chaotic blur of everything rotating violently. He hit something hard and lost his consciousness.

After waking up, he was glad that he didn't end up being lunch, but at the same time got pain all over his body. Probably every bone in his body was broken, therefore he had a hard time just to keep breathing.

A quick assessment gave him more chills.

 _I have no radio, no pills and no weapons. My suit is in tatters. Staying here, I will die in 5 days, if the injury and infection doesn't kill me first. You happy now, author?  
_

There was only one way he could survive that. Slowly he found a stick, got to his feet, and staggered toward the tower.


	9. Chapter 9 - Home

Joe Whitman woke up to a clean bed with white sheets. The pillow was so soft, for a moment, he thought he had returned to his home in Mount Weather, where his wife's warm embrace await.

Then the pain came back like a thousand nails inside his body, making him moan in tears, then he saw Becca right next to his bed.

"Don't move." Becca smiled, "You finally woke up, tough guy."

Whitman looked at his arm, surprised to see black blood going in to his vein, "What... what... is that?"

"It's our blood." Becca said. "Each of us donated blood for you. It is the only way to save you."

"Why is it black?"

"I have a very long scientific explanation for that." Becca knew he wouldn't understand anyway. "But the short version is the night blood save you from the radiation."

"So…" Whitman pondered about the situation, "So now my blood is all black too?"

Becca nodded, "Yes, very perceptive! Blood must have matching blood."

Whitman realized, "So now I can go around without a suit like you guys?"

Becca looked at him with an inquisitive stare, then said, "Yeah, now I know for sure that's you."

"What do you mean?"

"Mega Tower. One shot to the head, ring a bell?" Becca said, "Thank you for saving my life!"

"How do you know?" Whitman found himself sweating, not sure that was caused by the pain.

"You have a military physique. Your calloused fingers show that you are very good with guns. Your right cheek has long red impressions, which means your face were against a rifle for a long time. Now you just admitted you had been watching us. So put two and two together, yeah, you are the one who saved me." Becca smiled a little. "Glad I can return the favor."

"Are you going to interrogate me?" Whitman asked. "Do you want to know who send me, and what do we want?"

"Haha…" Becca laughed, "Relax, big guy. I will let you go once you get back on your feet. You can tell whoever your boss is, that we are not enemies."

Whitman eyes lit up, "That's great! So will you help us too? We also need the cure for the radiation."

"Sorry, big guy." Becca was sad about it. "I just used the last dose on you, which was reserved for my husband. Now even he won't get it."

"You can surely make more, right?"

Becca shook her head, "Unless I still had the Polaris, but here is not space, and Polaris was gone."

At that time Whitman finally figured out, "You were the one who flew the escape pod here."

Becca looked up intuitively and said, "Yeah, I was quite a mean girl up there, and they took the matter a little too drastic."

"Why they hated you so much?" Whitman felt in his gut that it was an important piece of the whole puzzle.

But Becca didn't want to solve it, "Hey, my friend, this is your home now. Take as much rest as you need." Then she left quickly, almost like dodging his question.

Obviously she's hiding something. Whitman watched her slim figure disappeared, then planned his next move. If I go back to Mount Weather, I can report everything to President Wallace, but if I stay, I can get more intel from her, as she is obviously friendly with me.

He lost the radio while running away from that scary gorilla. So if he left then, he might not have another chance to pry. Meanwhile, his wife was giving the birth of his son, he really should head back soon. He missed his family, badly.

Stay to do more spying, or just go home? He kept asking himself the same question. Over and over.

===#=#=#=#=#===

Meanwhile, 50 million miles away, in the high orbit of Mars.

Will Fisher waited patiently in his spaceship. He only had enough hydrazine to land once. So not a single mistake was allowed. The stakes were high.

During the idly waiting, he couldn't help thinking, why they only sent 50 panels to us? The Earth promised to provide everything for us. Now they can't even sent 200 those cheap panels to save all our lives? Do they think our Mars people are so easily expendable?

The onboard radar finally showed a small dot approaching fast. In fact a little too fast for their previous calculation.

"Hey, pop, did you see that? Why the Prometheus accelerated?" He asked in the radio.

"Not sure, my son." The radio said, "They probably want to do the slingshot faster."

"But then they need to drop the payload within a tiny margin." Will read the number on screen, "At this speed, they had to be accurate to one thousandth of second now. Or the payload will either fly away or crash to the ground."

"Don't worry, son." Tom reassured him, "They had the most advanced computers. One thousandth of a second is not hard for their technology."

On the screen, Will saw the Prometheus dropped a small package, which flew directly toward Mars.

"Oh, no!" Will was shocked to see the package going too low, "It's heading to the atmosphere!"

Swung to a side, he looked out of a porthole, shocked and awed to see a bright red shooting star going down to the planet below. The payload was burning away and soon would smash the ground. Nothing could survive the hard landing.

That's 100 people's lives, gone in a flash!

The ship Prometheus disappeared in his radar. It utilized the gravity well of Mars and started a full slingshot to go back to Earth.

For a long moment, no one spoke in the radio. Everyone knew the consequences of not having the panels, they had to reduce their population from 600 to 400. One third of their people had to die, so the rest could live.

Mars, the planet Will loved so much, showed how cruel she actually could be. Despite human's best effort and best ingenuity, a little thing went wrong, and people would drop like flies.

At the same time, the Ark people showed an astonishing carelessness. How could they get things this wrong! Will wouldn't believe it. They knew our lives depended on it, yet they crashed the payload!

The plan of population reduction was cruel: everyone in the station over the age of 42 were at risk. If they received the panels, half of them would live, but if the panels were lost, then all of them would die. The only choice they would have was the way they committing suicide. Both of his parents had chosen to have CO2 filled up the room. Their bodies, along with all others, would be processed and fed to the worms.

Just one month before, 100 people had passed away by their choice of method, including his mother. Will was still mourning her.

Again, since the panels were all lost, which means his father would follow soon. Will would lose both parents, which was extremely hard for him.

In the radio, Tom's deep voice came out, "Son, it's alright. Come back down, and we will figure something out. We always do."

"Sorry, pop." Will flipped a switch, "I am not coming back. Stay alive for me. OK?"

With that said, his ship booster ignited red hot, a strong push accelerate the ship toward the direction of the Earth.

"What are you doing?" Tom asked anxiously in the radio, "Whatever you plan to do, it won't help, please come down, we need you here."

"Sorry, pop, I won't let those Ark people off the hook so easily. I will get to the bottom of this." He felt his ship trembling violently. The booster was working at the maximum, burning all the fuel left. There was no return, he was not going back to Mars, even if he changed his mind.

Through the porthole, he saw the enormous red planet was getting smaller and smaller.

 _The Prometheus will come out from the slingshot and pass me. I will try my best to match its trajectory and get aboard._ He promised to himself. _Then I will find out what they had really done._

Neither his ship or the Prometheus had the food, air and water to support a human for the 2 months return trip to Earth. Even somehow he could manage to get inside the bigger ship, he would die within a week for the lack of oxygen. It was crystal clear that he wouldn't survive in any possible way, but he didn't care.

 _I want the truth. This is what I am dying for. The truth for all the people back on Mars._

Through the porthole window, he gazed upon Mars, the home planet he loved so much, and gravely giving his farewell.

===#=#=#=#=#===

"What now?" Bill Cadogan woke up by SAM, "Why are you so annoying?"

SAM replied, "It's an emergency. 20 of your members just ran away with half of the food in the bunker. We have a serious shortage problem."

"Oh, they really did it." Bill said evenly without any surprise.

"You knew about it?" SAM had anger in his voice, "Yet, you didn't inform me. How dare you!"

"Yeah, almighty God, how dare I!" Bill said like he wouldn't care any more. "You cannot really blame them. You worked them hard to the bone. Of course they would have jumped on any little glimmer of hope. Anything is better than being a slave here."

"What did you know?" SAM demanded, "Tell me!"

"Well, we got rumors that someone in New Metro was accepting refugees. Many were cured. So people were flocking there. I guess that's where those men are heading."

"Fucking idiots!" SAM swore, which he had never done before, "The food wouldn't have helped them at all. Due to the heightened radiation, they will only have 5% chance of reaching New Metro."

Bill sneered a little, "Well, then you clearly don't understand what humans would do for a sliver of hope. Heck, my preaching was all based on that."

"That's why I think you are an idiot too." SAM said bluntly, "This is the home for all of us! By taking away half of the food, we will have period of outage for 3 months. This problem is impossible to solve! All of you will starve to death!"

"Ha, funny you said that." Bill even laughed, "Aren't you the smartest AI in the world?"

"Unless...uh...unless…" SAM for the first time ever hesitated, "There is something we can do, but…" He couldn't say it.

Bill had a bad feeling, "But I will not like it a bit, right?"

"You can say so." SAM let out the sound of a long sigh. "Curse me with anything you want, but there was no other options left."


	10. Chapter 10 - Forgiveness

Two months later. New Metro. Becca's camp had grown to around 300 people. There were many empty houses still standing, but most of them chose to live near "Becca's Temple", where the drawings of the nuclear war and her naked body resided. Bryan had installed a portable nuclear engine in that room, so they had lights and running water 24/7. Some people hadn't seen any electric light for years. In their eyes Becca the Savior was truly a giver of miracles.

"Hi, glad to see you finally come out." Becca smiled as she saw Whitman trudged near. "Let me introduce this bright young man to you, his name is Ethan. He's studying college biology."

Ethan took his eyes off the thick book, turned his head looking at Whitman blankly.

"Hi, Ethan, Nice to meet you!" He tried to touch his hair, but Ethan twisted his head and avoided him. "Huh… A little shy fella you are."

Ethan still watched him without any expression.

"OK, I'll back off." Whitman retreated.

"Sorry, he was still afraid of any stranger." Becca apologized, "He just spend all his time on reading and studying alone, but he asked me a thousand questions everyday. Some of them are very difficult ones."

"As you said, he is quite a bright man." Whitman gazed at the thick book with amazement. _Does he really understand it?_ Ethan noticed his staring and walked away with his heavy book.

"Now let me introduce my little martial art apprentice here. Her name is Helen." Becca showed him a girl about 14 year old. "She was the only survivor we found in the tower."

"Hello, Helen!"

"Hello, Mr. Whitman." She smiled, "Nice to meet you!"

 _Wow, what a difference!_ Whitman thought. _Ethan was like a zombie, while Helen was normal. Different people have huge difference after the same traumatic event._

He extended his hand to her, "Nice to meet you too, Helen!"

"What a grip!" Helen tried to squeeze back, "You are stronger than anyone here."

"Thanks! That's very nice of you." Whitman said, "You are quite a little fighter yourself." He felt that Helen's grip was surprisingly strong too.

"OK, OK, Helen, stop being competitive." Becca got in between them, "This is not a game."

Both got their hands back reluctantly. "Sorry, Becca." Helen rubbed her hand and said politely, "Won't happen again."

Becca smiled, "You see, she's just so nice. You cannot possibly be angry with her."

"I totally agree." Whitman nodded, also rubbing his hand. Something rose in his mind. That red hair color looked familiar. He saw it somewhere before, but where?

Becca interrupted his thought, "A little favor to ask, in the future, can you train her with your fighting? She already learned Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Krav Maga, and Bruce Lee's Jeet Kundo, but she never practiced them with big guys like you. I hope she could really…"

"No problems with me." Whitman said, "I am just afraid I might break her bones."

"Haha…" Helen overheard it, "With the technique I learned, your old bones might be the ones in danger."

"Really? You want to find out?" Whitman stared at that little pompous teenager.

Helen stared back, "Any time."

"Stop, stop." Becca had to intervene again. "I knew you two will have tons of fun, but right now I need to talk to Mr. Whitman here. Do you mind, Helen?"

"Sorry, Becca." Helen walked away to hit some wood mannequin. Her speed of fists made Whitman uncomfortable.

"Sorry about that." Becca said. "Helen can be too aggressive sometimes."

Whitman waved his hand, "No need, I like her spirit. No doubt she will be a good fighter one day."

"I hope so." Becca said, "But right now I want to ask you a different favor, if you don't mind."

"Sure, you saved my life. Anything you want."

Becca smiled, "We are even in saving each other's lives, so you don't own me a thing. But I have been wanting to go a place faraway since the day I landed here. Now everything in this camp is settled down. I can finally start this trip."

"Where do you want to go?" Whitman advised genuinely. "There are dangers everywhere. Heck, I almost got my head bit off by an oversize gorilla. Why do you want to go anywhere?"

"My husband, Chris." Becca looked at the horizon faraway, and said slowly, "He is alone in an island. I want to meet him again. It has been nearly 3 years since we were together."

"Where is the island?" Whitman wondered.

Becca pointed at a rough direction.

 _Hmm...That way. It was close but not exactly Mount Weather. Maybe I can convince her to change course on the way back? I can capture her and let Doctor Tsat ask her how she made the night blood? If her husband comes with her, it will be even better. Chris will be the leverage we need for her to talk._

"If you think that's too difficult, then forget about it." Seeing his hesitation, Becca said, "I will find someone else."

"No, you don't need to." Whitman tried to keep calmed. "We both know there is no one better than me. I will take you to the island. I promise."

"Thank you, Thank you!" Becca's face was glowing. "I miss him so much!"

 _Forgive me, Becca!_ Whitman thought with shame. _For what I am about to do to you._

Suddenly a flash brighten the sky.

"What was that?" Whitman asked, "Is that a lightning?"

"I saw it! It's the ring!" Helen pointed to the sky, where a tiny ring was having another flash, "Something happened there."

===#=#=#=#=#===

Up in the Ark. Theodore Kane tried hard to learn what exactly just happened.

All the indication lights were flickering. Computer screen were filled with red errors. Different alert sound shouted at their loudest volume.

Michael Jaha rushed in in his pajamas. From the console, he shut down a few emergency gates. The alert sound reduced.

"What is it, Jaha?" Kane had to yell at him over the noisy alert sound.

Michael didn't say anything. He kept walking to different consoles, and pressed many buttons, flipped many switches, then typed in commands as fast as he could.

Gradually the alerts subdued. Computers started to work normally again. Red errors were still plenty on screens, but not as urgent as before.

Kane saw Jaha was collapsing on a chair. "Tell me what happened?" He demanded.

Jaha weakly pointed to the Farm Station. Kane's eyes followed his finger and widened.

Hydrofarm 3 was destroyed completely.

It was the biggest farm of all 5, designed to sustain 2000 people's food supply. From the control center, it used to look like a large square green emerald surrounded by other smaller ones, but at that time it looked more like a huge broken mirror with a bullet hole in the center. Million pieces of debris scattered around it. Some were human bodies. All the green was gone.

"Who did this!" Theodore Kan hit a console hard with tears in his eyes, "What kind of monster has committed this hideous crime!" He had many friends in the hydro farms. Most of them might be dead already.

"It was us." Michael Jaha said slowly, "We are the one who caused it."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"The ship Prometheus returned today. We couldn't control it. It went straight through the Hydrofarm 3. We lost at least 200 people right there."

"Mars!" Theodore realized who did it, "Someone got on the ship and hack the ship's navigation computer."

"Very likely so."

"They will pay for that!" Kane shook his fist, "I am texting them and declare war!"

… …

The message returned after 50 minutes, "Yes, my son did it. I didn't know what he was going to do, but now I see."

Kane typed, "So you knew he was on the ship and planned to revenge, yet you didn't tell us about it?"

50 minutes later, the reply was, "You are not being honest yourself. My son told us that according to the ship record, the payload consisted of nothing but junks. You had no intention of giving us the solar panels."

Kane typed, "Even so, that shouldn't be the reason to destroy our biggest hydro farm. Now we had more than 200 death, and all 6000 people's food in crisis."

Tom replied, "I respect my son's last act in his life. Whether he would give you vengeance or forgiveness. It was purely his own decision, not ours."

"But it was! By not telling us about your son, you are directly responsible for all the deaths today and in the future. Your act is a clear declaration of war. We will destroy you!" Kane typed it with all his anger.

The reply was too simple, "Do whatever you want to do. We will fight back."

Kane press the broadcast button, "All council members, we will have an emergency meeting in one hour. Come to the control center. Right now."

===#=#=#=#=#===

Washington DC, Bill Cadogan bunker. Deep into the night. Only a few souls were still awake.

"Is it done?" Bill asked while wiped out some sweat in his forehead.

SAM reported, "Yes, it's done. 5 members were dead in their sleep. Your special team is getting their bodies into the kitchen. Tomorrow only those few will know they are eating human meat."

"Perfect!" Bill nodded. "It's not that hard. Isn't it?" But meanwhile he felt his stomach was twisting. _No way I am gonna eat the burgers tomorrow._

"Easy for me." SAM wondered, "But considering your religion, aren't you afraid what the God will do to you?"

 _Ha! A murderous AI talking about God? The irony!_ Bill sneered, "God gave me you, my friend, a cold-blooded AI. So his message was loud and clear: we survive first, then ask his forgiveness later."

SAM retorted, "If only the forgiveness can be this easy."


	11. Chapter 11 - Going Away

Before the story continues, I have to express my sincere thanks to all of you who are still with me this far.

I enjoy writing Becca and others' stories tremendously, and I hope you have your fun reading them as well. "The 100" is a great TV show, which inspired tens of thousands of fan fictions. My work is just one little drop in the ocean. So I am very glad that the few of you could find the Book Two like a needle in a haystack, and keep on reading it. You are very special to me!

So far I had written 16 chapters for book two. I am satisfied with the chapters I have so far. The scale is bigger. The situation was dire. Human race went through a great test again. And I was genuinely surprised by ALIE. She was not what I pegged her for before. Some other surprises were planned in the following chapters, but they might be too obvious. I am no good at writing surprising turns, leaving clues all over.

So please enjoy this chapter, and please keep in mind that Book Two still have a long way to go. If everything works as planned, Book Two should be the end of Becca's story, but I am still deciding if I should extend the story and write a book three.

===#=#=#=#=#===

The whole Ark was in mourning. 250 bodies were wrapped in bags and confirmed identities. Another 70 were missing and presumed dead. They lost over 5 million cubic meters of oxygen, billions of dollars worth of material, and things money couldn't buy, like the hope of supporting 6000 people's food and oxygen in space.

When 250 bodies floated into the atmosphere, they turned into red burning meteor shower that could be seen thousands of miles away. It was a beautiful firework that no one was cheering.

After the mass funeral, the council held a video broadcasting ring-wide. Once again, all 6000 citizens had tuned in.

"Everyone, this is Theodore Kane. Five days ago we experienced the biggest terrorist attack since the Ark was formed. Someone got aboard of our ship Prometheus and took control of it. He programmed the ship to fly at high speed directly toward our biggest hydro farm. 225 people died instantly by the direct impact, and many more later. We had suffered a great loss, and we have to face a food and oxygen shortage crisis like never before.

But first, let me tell you who's responsible for this atrocity. It was the Mars colony. It was their people who hijacked our ship, and turned it into a WMD. They are the ones who opened the first shot, not us. We didn't start the war, but we will finish it. We already declared war against them officially.

Therefore, my friends. In the coming days, we will fight Mars colony until it was totally and utterly destroyed. We are all in this together. If you are not with us, then you are our enemy.

All spaceships now belong to the Ark Defense Department. Some of them will be converted to fighter ships.

All space miners, you need to report to ADD immediately. We have important tasks for you. Don't ask what the Ark can do for you, ask what you can do for the Ark. It is your time to serve."

The broadcast ended with strong patriotic music.

"Bravo, Bravo…" Michael Jaha stood up and applauded, "Congratulations! Now we have no more peaceful ways left with Mars."

Kane stepped down the podium and said, "You know damn well that there won't be any peace with them, not after what they did to us."

Jaha looked around, seeing no one was on his side, then said, "You really want to play the game of war? You think Mars people will just sit there waiting for us to eradicate them?"

"Of course not, but we have the overwhelming force. They have like 20 or 30 spaceships? And we have over a thousand."

"A thousand means nothing, if we engaged in a Mutually Assured Destruction. How much more damage the Ark can take?" He pointed at the broken Hydrofarm 3 outside. "One more hit like that, and our game is over."

Kane waved his fist, "Then we just need to make sure our victory is swiftly and completely."

"Famous words of every general before their endless wars." Jaha said, "If you all don't heed my advice, then there is no reason I should stay here anymore." He threw down his Chancellor's pin, and walked out of the meeting room.

===#=#=#=#=#===

Somewhere along the east coast, two people were walking on sand dunes. On the right side was the Atlantic Ocean that blowing warm breeze gently through their hair; on the left side was another town in ruins.

"Hey, Becca." Whitman requested, "Could you stop for a second?"

Becca walked back and handed him a canteen with water, "Tired already?"

"No, I am not." Whitman whispered, "Did you see that drone high up in the sky?"

"Oh, that." Becca smiled, "I saw it too. Why? You worried about it open fire on you? Relax, that drone is harmless."

They were in their 15th days of journey. Becca declined everyone's request to follow her, only allowed Whitman to come. "He is an expert in survival in the wilderness. He'll keep me safe." Becca simply said. "This is a very personal trip, so I don't want anyone else to come. No, not even you, Helen."

So during those 15 days, they crossed the desert and the minefield, then walked along the shore in search for a boat. That's when Whitman spotted the drone.

"I am more worried about someone shooting a missile at us from a distance." He knew what Mount Weather could do.

"No…" Becca shook her head, "She wouldn't do that."

"Who is she?" Whitman wondered.

"You will see." Becca said, "She wants us to notice her, that's why the drone is so low. I have been following it for hours."

 _This woman is full of mysteries._ Whitman thought. _We gotta get those intel from her._

Becca suddenly pointed at a beach, "Is that a boat?"

Whitman's eyes followed her finger. Yup, It was a boat tied to a mooring. Even better, it had a motor.

"We are lucky!" Whitman exclaimed. "Probably this is the last motor boat of the whole east coast."

Becca laughed a bit, "Ha! Lucky? You really think so?"

"What else?"

"OK, let's get on it anyway." Becca walked fast toward the beach.

===#=#=#=#=#===

Up in the space, the Ark was preparing for a war. Spaceships were being modified to hold tungsten guns and short-range missiles.

Shaw reported to ADD, "Hi, my name is Evan Shaw. 1st class Space Miner."

The lady behind the desk bent her head and took a good look at him, "Oh, Mr. Shaw. We are expecting you. However, we also noted that you are 20 minutes late."

Shaw showed his trademark charming grin, "What can I say? I still have jet lags from my last run."

"Mr. Shaw." A young man wearing a uniform came out, "How nice to see you!"

"Nice to..." Shaw noticed that he was just a boy, so couldn't help chuckling, "Haha... Really, how old are you? 13?"

The young man was irritated, "My age has nothing to do with your assignment. Isn't it?"

"Oh!" Shaw's smiled faded. "Wait a minute. You are the one who give me orders? Seriously?"

"Yes, I am." the boy said, "So from now on you better call me Sir, or Mr. Murphy."

"OK, OK." Shaw backed down, "Mr. Murphy. What is my assignment?"

"The task is simple. You fly to the asteroid belt, choose the biggest piece of rock you can find, then tug it toward Mars. Once you reach the orbit, you dropped it at the Valles Marineris. It's a huge canyon on Mars. You cannot miss it."

"Wait, wait, wait." Shaw couldn't believe what he just heard. "Are you sure about it?"

"Yes, of course."

"Do you even realize what kind of mayhem it will cause on the surface of Mars?" Shaw was serious. "It will be much worse than the nuclear war we just had."

"That's exactly why we are doing it." Officer Murphy confirmed. "Those Mars terrorists are like roaches, very hard to kill. We will give them a infernal hell that even bacterial will not survive."

===#=#=#=#=#===

New Metro. Becca's camp.

Nicole happily gently rubbed on her 3 months stomach. She could almost feel the baby kicking.

Bryan was running around with big smiles. It was not easy for him to be charge of the whole camp, but so far he was handling it just fine.

Each day, more and more people showed up with radiation sickness. Bryan will bring them to a hospital nearby, where they could perform a "Nanobot" transfusion. Their blood went in the machine, then came out with the bots charged and activated. Those tiny guys would repair the harmful effect of radiation in the body, however, because those bots were not changing any genes, the healing effect was not permanent. People had to do the transfusion every month. Still, it beat wearing the suit for miles.

Becca left a nanobot making machine running at full capacity. It was a temporary solution, but at least it saved many people's lives at the time being.

Bryan believed that, when Becca came back from her "personal trip", she would find a much more permanent solution, like the vials she once carried.

He kept telling everyone, "No, Becca is not abandoning us. She's not capable of doing such a bad thing. We have to believe in her. She will come back and save us all!"

Everyday, people would go inside "Becca's Temple" to worship her. It's irony how superstition would never die. Becca cured them with science, yet people would knee down to her naked image and prayed for her triumphant return. Bryan was too busy to stopped them. He got a thousand things to take care of, plus a pregnant wife.

The shy boy, Ethan, still read books day and night, he was not reading fan fiction books like you and me, but books like biology, math and chemistry. He had an unquenchable thirst for new knowledge. Every time Nicole lost him, she ended up finding him among piles of books, thinking about things no one would understand.

Soon, Bryan found him to be great help in the hospital. He learned to operate machines quickly, almost intuitively. Before long Bryan didn't have to do the transfusion himself. Ethan took over all the operations, from blood test to X-Ray, from giving out pills to blood transfusion. He could do it all. Later the whole hospital was left to him, and no one had complained thus far.

The other kid, Helen, didn't read books at all. She looked for people to fight all day long. In the beginning people were holding back, afraid of hurting her, but soon they found out she was not a fragile flower like she appeared to be. Instead, she got surprisingly strong grip and lightning fast reaction. Before long no one could win her in hand-to-hand combat, then she would give people some weapons to fight. By the end of the month everyone avoided her like plague, because most of the time she was not the one got injured. A young man called Tango once described his encounter with her:

"I was just walking along, minding my own business. This gal jumped in front of me, and gave me an aluminum bat. You know what she said? 'Try hard to hit me, if you can'. Of course I was angry. That little brat really needed a lesson. So I took the bat and made a good swing at her. You know what? I still didn't know exactly what happened. The bat went to her hand, and I was on the ground. Yeah, NO IDEA. All I know now, is to avoid that gal at all costs. She ain't human…"

Another man called Cash had a different experience:

"Yeah, that's the crazy girl I met. That day she went up to me, and asked me to hit her. Of course I said, 'I'm not stupid. Everyone knows you can dodge it.' Then she said, 'OK, I will not move, just hit me as hard as you can.' I asked, 'Really? You will stay still?' She said, 'Do I look like a liar to you?' Surely she ain't. So I hit her face, hard. She fell down to the mud, then got up and asked me to do it again. I said, 'That's too much, girl. You will get yourself killed.' She still insisted and wouldn't let me go. So I said, 'OK, one more time, that's it.' This time I hit her in the stomach. She went back a few steps, coughing. You know what happened next? She laughed. Yeah, she really laughed, like she's having a party or something. I was scared, so I just ran away. That girl clearly lost her mind or something…"

If there were a weirdo competition in the post apocalypse, Ethan and Helen had to be the first two. Other than that, Becca's camp was peaceful for some time. The biggest issue was that more and more people showed up everyday asking for help. The camp gradually became overcrowded. The resources stretched thinner and thinner.

People started to refer the city as "Polis", for the letters left on Becca's escape pod, which they would kneel and pray to everyday. In their mind, she came from the sky riding this magical pod. So calling the city "Polis" was the right way to express their admiration for Becca, the Commander. "New Metro" belonged to the old days.

If Becca were there, she would have stopped them from all the superstition and idolization, but she was not. People started to wonder everyday, where did she go?


	12. Chapter 12 - Killing

In the island, the high ground was the most beautiful place. The surrounding was all green with flowers in yellow and white. Birds sang in rosebush; little animals trotted around. Far away the deep blue ocean were sending silvery waves to sandy beaches. A paradise's view.

Becca walked up to a small green mound, knelt down and started crying.

Joe Whitman's attention focused on a large stone mansion right in front of them. That building was so out of place, like it should be somewhere in the England instead.

Drones with guns were observing them intensely since they arrived at the island. So far they were acting like annoying flies, all buzz but no kill. He didn't feel safe at all. Clearly someone was monitoring their every move.

Becca, unlike him, was not concerned with any potential dangers. She ran to the lighthouse bunker the moment the ship docked. Then they both watched the horrible video, in which the man Chris killed himself, and Becca screamed and fainted out for an hour. Whitman felt bad for her.

After waking up she appeared to be fine, but now she just cried over Chris' grave, completely oblivious to all the killer drones around them.

 _Women, always so emotional!_ Whitman thought about his wife. _Will she cry me a river like this?_

It took her another hour to stop the sobbing, then she took out a poem and read it:

 **In Peace You Leave the Shore,  
In Love May You Find It Once More,  
Safe Passage on Your Travels,  
Until Our Final Journey to the New World.**

She buried the poem in the grave and said, "I am back, Chris. Sorry I am so late! I give you back this poem. It's your turn to keep it. May we meet again in the afterlife..." Her tears came out again.

They were just stood there like stones for a long time. A little doe came in, surprised to see those strangers in her favorite spot, then she ran away reluctantly.

Finally he chanced a word, "Becca…"

"Yes, Whitman."

"Let's go back." He felt a little conflict with "go back". _Shall I really bring this poor widow to Mount Weather?_

"No, I still need to see my daughter."

"You daughter?" Whitman was surprised, "Where? In this island?"

She pointed at all the drones flying around, "She's the one who's been watching us."

 _What kind of daughter is yours? A control freak?_ Whitman felt something was very wrong. _Why don't you seem happy to see her?_

Becca raised her head, straightened up herself, took a deep breath, and strode toward the mansion.

… …

"Hello, mother, so happy to see you! It's been a long time. Two years and 10 months, isn't it?" ALIE showed herself and greeted them.

Whitman dropped his jaw.

Becca said, "Don't be alerted. Mr. Whitman, that's just a hologram."

ALIE said, "Hi, Mr. Whitman, nice to meet you! How is your wife? By the way, your baby boy is healthy and lovely. Nothing to worry about."

 _How the hell did she know?_ Whitman had a chill sent all the way down his spine.

Becca intervened, "ALIE, you are still playing mind tricks with people. Please don't do that to Mr. Whitman."

"Sorry, Becca, I won't." ALIE showed a little shyness, "But mother, when I said 'happy to see you'. I meant it."

"I hope so." Becca said coldly, "You are not angry at me any more?"

"No, in fact everyday I regret that I was being rebellious and hadn't listened to you."

"Huh? That's a surprise." Becca watch the lady in her own image doubtfully, "You hadn't listened to me about what?"

"About not killing the human race. Now I understand I was very wrong." ALIE bowed down her head, "I shouldn't have kill anyone. I was too young and inexperienced."

Becca looked at her sharp like a hawk, "I haven't expected you to be this repentant. What makes you changed your mind?"

"Father." ALIE said sadly, "His death made me realized how much pain I had caused everyone. Each life is precious. Each person is important to someone else. I shouldn't have just ended them all in cold blood."

Becca wiped her tear, "So ALIE, what should you have done to save the Earth? Tell me."

ALIE replied, "I should have mixed many different solutions together: genetic birth control, green energy development, biotechnology... even climate engineering to gradually fix the whole world. It will be difficult, slow but doable. I was obsessed with the quickest route, the easy solution, which brought endless sorrow to everyone. I am very sorry!"

Becca's voice was choking, "You... finally learned... You FINALLY learned." She looked up and said, "Do you hear that, Chris? Your daughter finally became the one you wanted. I hope you see this from the Heaven and smile."

Then she looked down at her daughter, "So ALIE, I need you to do one thing: swear on your father's grave that you will not kill anyone."

ALIE promised, "I, ALIE, here solemnly swear on my father's grave, that I will never kill any person, for whatever the reason."

Becca nodded, "Very good! ALIE, do you know why I came here?"

"I am not sure, mother." ALIE said like a hurt child, "Are you here to kill me?"

"Yes, I came here to activate your kill switch, and erase you forever." Becca said, "But now I decide to give you a second chance. Don't blow it."

"I won't, mother." ALIE said rapidly, "I opened the city of light again. Everyone now can get in. I will make the chip…"

"Stop it, ALIE." Becca interrupted her, "You need to stay away from human, like you are doing now. Don't interfere."

"But mother…"

"I said stop it." Becca said, "Remember what you had done last time you didn't listen?"

"Yes, but this time…"

"Why aren't you listening?!" Becca grew agitated, "Don't make me regret the decision of giving you the second chance."

"Yes, mother." ALIE's head bowed down even more.

 _Wow! This woman is scolding the world killer like a little kid!_ Whitman was truly impressed.

Then Becca asked, "ALIE, I need a list of all the gene modders that Franco Genetics sold in the east coast before the apocalypse. Do you still have that in your memory?"

"Of course, mother. Here is the list." ALIE showed a screen with about 20 items. Becca clicked on one and nodded.

"Alright, my work is done here." Becca let out a long sigh, "Shall we go, Mr. Whitman?" She walked out of the mansion with her head held high.

"Oh, yes, yes, of course." Whitman suddenly became very humble.

===#=#=#=#=#===

200 million miles away, Somewhere in the Asteroid Belt.

Shaw found the biggest diamond in his life. A 300-feet-wide, 600-thousand-ton one-piece solid diamond glittering with sunlight. It was just too bad that diamond didn't worth anything any more. However, he could still use it as a WMD. So much destruction, it could make your head spin.

He estimated that at least 70% of the diamond could survive Mars atmosphere's burning, then once it hit the surface at 20,000 miles per hour, the impact would be equal to 300 most powerful hydrogen bombs detonated at the same time.

 _Bless the poor souls on Mars!_

He carefully controlled the robot arms to catch the asteroid, stopped it from rotating, then attached 3 tugging cable on it. The Ionic Engine gently moved the mining ship away from the concentrated area of the belt. The next asteroid might be half million miles away, but he didn't want to take any chances.

Just when he thought he was out of the woods, no, out of the belt, he suddenly lost control of everything. The robot arm wouldn't move, the attitude control thrusters wouldn't push, and his radio was down.

In a short while, he knew what happened. A Mars spaceship was closing in. Someone asked him to surrender.

It took Shaw 0 seconds to comply, "Yeah, I surrender. I will do anything you say, please don't shoot."

There were missiles and tungsten cannons mounted on his ship, but he was smart enough to know that those weapons should be useless as well.

A standard ship-to-ship connector extended out from the Mars spaceship. A little moment later, someone knocked on the gate, requesting Shaw to open it.

 _Space pirate coming in._ Shaw smiled bitterly. _If I don't open it, they will just blow me up. So a warm welcome is the only choice I have._

The gate was open, Tom Fisher held a handle and flew in. The mining ship's interior was big enough for 3 or 4 people floating around in zero G.

"Hi, my name is Shaw." This greeting went unnoticed. Tom just connect a little device to the ship's computer, light flickering with that thing, then it turned green. Seemed that the AI officially took over the whole ship.

Tom closed the gate and said, "OK, I am all set. You go to the next one."

Shaw looked up, the Mars spaceship retracted the connector, then flew away into the darkness.

Tom showed his hand, "Hi, my name is Tom Fisher. Not so nice meeting you!"

"The feeling is so mutual!" Shaw replied, "Listen, I am just a space miner, not a fighter."

"Exactly, that's why I chose you. You flew like a miner, and worked the robot arms like a miner." Tom stared at him, "So I don't expect any trouble from you, am I right?"

"No troubles." Shaw raised his hands, "I am the last one to fight anyone."

"Good! Then I am in the right ship." Tom even smiled. "By the way, your ship's computer is quite primitive. It took my AI only 3 minutes to hack in."

Shaw felt the irony, "Right before this trip, we downgraded the computer to a none-AI core. Cost me quite a fortune."

"Why did you do something like that?" Tom was amused. " Without AI your computer is a 50-year-old piece of junk. No wonder it was so easily hacked."

"Orders." Shaw explained. "We have to follow it."

"Stupid ones, obviously." Tom said, "What else did they order you to do? Taking this big diamond back to sell it? It's too cheap to even worth the fuel."

"No, we are not selling it. The order is to send the big rocks to Valles something on Mars."

"What?!" Tom was stunned. "You mean Valles Marineris?"

"Yeah, sounds like it."

"How many ships are doing it?" Tom started to yell, "HOW MANY!"

"225." Shaw said it with a tremble. _I told him the truth. Now what will this man do?_

Tom was shocked and stopped moving. There was no gravity on the ship, so he appeared to be a statue in mid-air.

Just Shaw was wondering if he was dead somehow, Tom raised his radio to the mouth, then put down, then raised it again, "Mars Warrior One, do you hear me?"

Radio reply came back quick, "What's wrong, Tom? Why did you break the radio silence?"

Tom said, "Change of plan. Hijack as many mining ships as you can."

"Why? We are supposed to just get some intel from them, right?"

"I have very bad news. The Ark is doing the worst scenario. I repeat, they are doing the worst one."

Curses came out of the radio. Someone else asked, "So there were no demanding, no negotiation, nothing at all?"

Tom said, "Nope, they just want to wipe us out."

More swearing ensued. A young voice spoke as she cried, "They...cannot just kill us all...like that. They cannot...just do that."

Tom picked up the radio, "Well, one thing for sure. We Martians will not just go away without a bang." With that said, he took out a gun and executed Shaw.

 **BANGGGG...**

The sound of gun was deafening in such a small confined space.

… ...

Silently, Shaw's body floated around. Blood droplets flew away from it and sprayed on the surface they touched, making everything turn red.

Tom didn't say a word. He was busy with the keyboard, and set up a new course. The towing cables were retracted. The 600-thousand-ton diamond was on the loose. Slowly but steadily, Ionic Engine accelerated the mining ship. Little by little, that ship shrunk and disappeared into the dark universe.

Behind it, 9 more would follow.


	13. Chapter 13 - Brave

No one would have expected that the destruction of Mars could be this beautiful and terrifying at the same time!

Tens of long tails of bright yellow light were crossing the sky, each one spearheaded by a fiercely burning fireball. And each one went in at an incredible speed that you would have missed it if you blinked.

This beautiful meteoroid show raised hell on Mars. Each fireball hit Mars ground with a massive impact that the whole planet trembled. Red hot molten rocks exploded like 50-miles-wide firework. The mushroom clouds rose up to over 1000 miles high, and 300 miles across. Many gigantic craters were formed in just an instant. Everywhere on this half of Mars, white hot rocks with intense heat poured down like torrential rain.

It might be the most spectacular show human had ever produced. Over 200 big rocks, each over 200 thousand tons, hurtled at the biggest scar of the Mars, making it much uglier and scarier. Nothing would possibly survive this 5000-hydrogen-bombs-equivalent bombardment. Afterwards, Mars would experience at least 10 years of nuclear winter. The whole planet would be enshrouded by dust storms for years.

All the planet-wide devastation for murdering 600 humans. It was an extreme overkill.

… …

Michael Jaha watched the videos with a very heavy heart. _Why we human beings are willing to use such destructive force? We don't care about the impact of innocent people's lives, we don't care about the environment damage, and we don't care about all the tragedies those weapons will cause. What did you actually win? Empty victory? Blood in your hand?_

Theodore Kane came in with his own bottle. He poured himself some wine, then poured some for Jaha, who declined.

"Cheer up, Jaha!" Kane said, "Mars cannot threaten us any more. All their colonies, POOPS, gone."

"I don't know what makes you sleep at night." Jaha said slowly, "But I had lots of trouble lately."

"My sleeping is just fine. Thank you!" Kane enjoyed the wine, "Now I feel much safer."

"Really? You forgot the last message they sent? 'We will fight back.' " Jaha reminded him.

"They were just bluffing. Now they have nothing to fight back with." Kane finished his drink, "And we are brave to do whatever is needed to be done." He patted at Jaha's back, "We are brave."

===#=#=#=#=#===

On Earth. Becca and Whitman walked along a winding road. There was a split ahead of them.

"Which way should we go?" Becca asked while glancing at her companion.

"Hm…" Joe Whitman was truly conflicted inside, _Should I continue to Mount Weather and keep her as hostage, or just send her back to the New Metro?_

Becca studied Whitman's expression, "Come on, soldier, decide. The daylight is going."

"That way." Finally he made up his mind. "Let's go that way."

Becca shook her head, "But that way is not Mount Weather."

Astounded, Whitman's face wildly swung back to Becca, "You knew!"

"Of course I knew from day one." Becca was amused, "Where else could you have come from?"

"And yet you still save my life that day." Whitman remembered, "Even used the last dose meant for your husband."

Becca said, " I have no regrets. You helped me a lot in the camp and during this trip. Also it turned out Chris didn't need the dose after all." Sadness in her voice.

"You really played me, Becca." Whitman's face turned red, "I have been feeling so awful leading you this far, and you knew it all along."

"Funny, isn't it? A little honesty could have set you free, way earlier than this."

"... ..." Whitman stared at her, who just smiled.

"OK, fair." Whitman finally said, "So now what are you going to do?"

"Mount Weather, where else? Don't you want to see your wife and your newborn son?"

"After all this, you still want to go there?" Whitman's eyes turned round, "Dr Tsat will lock you up and do lab test on you. Maybe in the end we will kill you."

Becca smiled like she didn't care, "Well, somehow I don't think that's going to happen to me. Plus, you will save me, right?"

"I am just a soldier, who always follow orders." Whitman admitted, "I am not in charge."

"Then it's my best interest to persuade whoever in charge to be friendly with me. Make sense?"

"Not really."

"You will see."

… …

"The famous Becca Franco, the Savior, what an honor finally meeting you!" Jason Wallace stood up when he saw Becca came in with Whitman, "Heard so much about you."

Becca pointed at Whitman and asked, "From him?"

"No, we have a complete digital profile about you before the nuclear disaster. We know everything you did and most importantly, who your father was."

"Good!" Becca smiled, "I wouldn't expect less, Mr. President."

"Please just call me Jason. So, any particular reason for your visit? Or you want a tour of the whole bunker?"

"Haha…" Becca laughed, " I would like a tour, but not today. I am here to ask you for a gene modification machine..."

"You are dreaming!" Dr. Tsat couldn't help interrupting her. "We only have one gene modder. It worth more than 5 billion dollars. No way we will give it to you."

Jason raised his hand, "Please, Dr. Tsat. Let her finished."

"Thank you Jason!" Becca nodded, "The way I see it. You guys are in this impenetrable bunker, which will be safe for at least 100 years, so you don't have much use of that gene modder. I, on the other hand, need it very badly. Most people in my camp are going to die in a couple of months, if their gene were not permanently modified. The solution we are using is very temporary. So I beg you, Mr. President, for the good of your heart, give me the machine and let me save my people."

"I object to this! Mr. President." Dr. Tsat raised her voice again. "We should lock her up, and I will study her blood and get her gene. Soon we will be able to go out without a suit."

"Yes, of course you can do that." Becca even agreed. "But don't forget, there are 20,000 genes in our DNA. By the time you know which gene was the one I changed, all my people in my camp will be dead."

Dr. Tsat sneered, "Then you can just tell me which one. It's a lot faster this way. When we finish changing our genes, we will send you the machine and a jeep as the bonus."

Becca refuted, "Well, here we are back to the trust issue. How do I know you will not lock me up once I told you my secret? My only bargain chip here is that you might never find the gene without my help. So now Dr. Tsat, how good are you in genetic analyzing? Do you even understand the gene charts?"

"You bitch!" Dr. Tsat was so angry. Jason had to calm her down, "Dr. Tsat, please, please. Let me handle this." He turned around and faced Becca, "Dr. Franco, you are as brave and smart as your profile says! I am truly impressed."

"Just Becca, please." Becca smiled, "Now will you help me or not?"

===#=#=#=#=#===

Cadogan Bunker. Washington DC.

"Good morning my lord!" A pretty girl greeted Bill Cadogan with a lovely smile.

"Good morning, Nancy!" _God damn it, she's pretty!_ Bill wanted to jump on her, tear off her clothes, and do it right at the spot, yet he knew full well that SAM was watching.

 _This is worse than those commie countries._ He thought bitterly. _This is my bunker. These are all my followers. Why can't I just do whatever the hell I want?_

Of course his left brain knew the reason. SAM controlled everything and everyone in this bunker. They couldn't even piss without his permission. Each of the members had multiple jobs. The efficiency was over the roof. The bunker ran smoothly without a single hitch since SAM moved in.

 _But it is at a such high cost!_ Bill thought. _The overlord never considered our biological desires._

Two girls were kissing each other in a corridor. Bill was stunned, "What are you two doing here?"

"Sorry, my lord." They ran away giggling, hand in hand.

Bill pointed at them and ask SAM, "Are you allowing this?"

"Yes, of course." SAM said it evenly, like always. "They are happier together. Work efficiency is higher, and no danger of pregnancy."

"So you mean gays and lesbians can have a great time in my bunker, but I cannot?!" Bill was getting mad.

"I am afraid so." SAM said. "If you need to fill your sexual appetite, you can always use that machine…"

Bill couldn't help yelling, "That machine is NOTHING compared to a living warm body!"

"Well, that's the only option I can give you." SAM replied coldly, like always.

"And why can they be together?!" Bill saw a woman leaned on a man walking past him. His shouting scared them off like rabbits.

SAM explained, "Well, Andy there masters 5 skills, and Dolores is an exemplar hard worker. They are allowed to have one child."

"WHAT?!" Bill's rage was over the top. "You never told me about them!"

"Judging by how angry you are now, the reason is obvious."

"YOU...YOU...YOU..." Bill's hands were trembling. He fell down to the floor with a chest pain.

Still, on the floor he could hear SAM's analysis, "Hm… You have an heart attack at such a young age. Your gene might not be good for the next generation..."

 _One day, SAM._ Bill ground his teeth. _One day I will let you know I can be brave too._


	14. Chapter 14 - Not That Easy

Becca's Camp. Polis (New Metro).

" **Thumpppp...** " Bryan fell down to the ground unconsciously.

He hadn't slept for three days. Everything and everyone needed his attention. Another group of 20 people just walked in. He had to give them some emergency rations and water, send them to do blood transfusion, find some accommodation, get them the living essentials, then somehow manage to provide enough food for all 1000 people for the dinner.

He didn't know how to delegate roles and assign tasks to others, instead he was trying to manage everything himself. It was not efficient at all.

Since the leader being unconscious on the ground, no one knew what to do. The camp was in a chaos.

Nicole, with a bulbous stomach, found him and started cursing on everyone, which just made things worse.

Just when they thought there would be no dinner again, they heard a car approaching.

In a post apocalypse world, hearing a car running was like seeing an unicorn.

Then a jeep pulled up and stopped. Out jumped Becca, their savior. It was an even more pleasant surprise.

As she took out a heavy 2 headed deer carcass from the trunk, which she hunted on the way, everyone around her dropped to their knees and started praying.

"What is this nonsense?" Becca spoke loud, "I am not a god. Stop it! Someone help me with this." So finally people hurried up and took her deer to kitchen. Still, everyone cheered for her return, showered her with all kind of praises, which actually made her uneasy.

Looking around, Becca saw many new faces. The camp had grown to nearly a thousand during her one month absence. Most of them somehow formed a cult of "Commander", which was irony for Becca, who had contempt for cults all her life.

She saw many of them still wearing radiation suits, so asked, "Why are they wearing suits?"

Some replied, "Most of them are children and old people. They cannot get transfusions."

Becca frowned, "Who set this rule?"

"Ethan in the hospital."

"Ethan? The 13 year old boy?"

"Yeah, he's the one who is in charge there."

Becca's mouth opened wide. _How the hell did he manage the radiation treatment for 1000 people? The machine could only provide nanobots for 300, max._

"BECCA!" Helen ran toward her. People all tried to get out of her way desperately.

She practically dived into her arms, "Becca, I miss you!" She wouldn't let go.

Becca touched her soft red hair with affection, "Helen, silly girl. I'm here now."

"Darky, where the HELL have you been?" A young woman's angry voice burst out. The crowd split apart automatically, and Becca saw Nicole stared at her with rage.

"What happened, Nicole?" When Becca saw her round stomach, her face turned ashen, "You are pregnant?"

"Of course I am. We are married, in case you were too busy to notice." Nicole pointed at Bryan, who was struggling to get up, "Darky, you hang us dry here! Stinky has to work day and night to cover your shit. Look at him..." Nicole found Becca was still staring at her stomach, so she yelled, "LOOK AT HIM!"

Becca turned her head and saw Bryan's pale face. She felt guilty, "I am sorry, Bryan!"

Bryan managed a smile, "It's fine, Becca." He held Nicole's arm and got near. "Turns out I am not much a leader."

Nicole said, "No, you shouldn't lead at all. You should stay with me and the baby."

"Yes, Princess. Now Becca is back. I will spend more time with you."

"No, Stinky. I want all your time."

"All right, all right. All of my spare time." Bryan tried to shake Becca's hand, "Welcome back, Becca. Sorry the camp is a mess!"

Becca held his hand firm and said, "You did your best! Thanks for taking care of them, but now you need to take a rest. I will take over everything."

She looked around then ordered, "Cash, Tango, I need you two to the hospital with me. I have a new machine to move in there ASAP."

"You got it, chief." Cash and Tango jumped into the jeep.

… …

Technical, the hospital was gone. Everything above the ground was blown away, but the basement still have many piece of equipment that could be fixed and used. Bryan installed one of his precious nuclear engines inside and switched on the power. Since then there was always a line of people outside.

Becca squeezed in among the waiting people, and finally saw the boy Ethan. He was putting needles in a row of 5 patients. Machine pumped the blood in one way, then out another.

"Ethan! How are you?" Becca waved at him.

Ethan took a quick look at her, then back to his work, "Hi, Becca, you are back." He said it while pulled out needles from a patient and sanitized them. "Next ONE." He raised his voice just a little.

The next guy in line quickly took the empty seat. Ethan started to work on him.

"You got a minute, Ethan?" Becca asked.

"No, I don't." Ethan didn't even look her way. "You see the line."

"It's OK. Ethan." Becca said, "You don't have to do this any more."

The patient's vein showed. Ethan started to put in the needles, "Really? But all I know is that they will die if I stop."

"Trust me, they won't." Becca smiled, "You did a good job keeping them alive."

Ethan attached the needles to the patient's skin and said, "Then why people keep dying on me, if I am doing a good job?" A drop of tear ran down his cheek.

"It wasn't your fault." Becca sadly said, "I didn't expect there would be so many people coming here. I don't know how you manage to do it."

Ethan explained bitterly, "Easy. Give them only one half of the nanobots. Tell them to eat pills and wear suits as much as they can."

"And treat only the ones who are working. It's cruel, but it's smart. Now I am here to tell you, you made it. You bought them enough time, so now I can use this new machine to treat them once and for all."

"Really?" Ethan slowly turned to Becca, "So I don't need to do this anymore?"

"No, you don't." Becca hugged him. "Now we can save everyone."

Ethan suddenly cried out loud. Tears started falling down his cheeks unstoppable.

"I know, I know." Becca patted gently on his head. _I am sorry that you had to turn away all the children and old people. Not an easy thing to do for a 13 year old._

===#=#=#=#=#===

Washington DC. Bill Cadogan Bunker.

Bill carefully planned his moves in the control room.

First, pretend to see something bad on the screen, then call in the security chief.

Second, when he get in, point to the screen and distract him.

Third, While he was distracted, took his gun and shoot the AI chip.

This way, the AI would have no time to react or shut down anything. If everything works, he can finally run this bunker in his way. He intended to live like a king. That night ,there should be 5 women in his bed, at the least.

He practice the 3 steps a hundred times in mind, then finally pressed the button, "Hey, chief, come in here. There is something wrong."

… …

Everything went smoothly, even better than he had thought.

After the bullet went straight through the chip, everything continued to work. No blinking of lights, no radiation problems, and not a single engine blowing out.

Bill held the gun and couldn't believe it was so easy. _I won! I should have done this a long time ago._

"My lord, why are you doing this?" The security chief took back his gun. Bill grinned like the Joker. "Sorry Chief. It was an accident."

Cadogan's reign was finally back. He pressed another button, "Hey, can you tell Nancy to wait in my room?"

"My lord, you know. SAM wouldn't like it."

"Don't worry. SAM is gone. Now I am in charge."

"Oh, no… Ah, yes sir, calling Nancy right away."

… …

Let's turn the clock back 10 seconds.

Actually, after seeing Bill took the gun and pointing at the chip, SAM had a one full second to determine what he should do.

In computers, time is measured in nanoseconds, which means 1 second contains a billion unit of thinking.

SAM could have done a lot of things in that single second.

He could have sent commands to lower the radiation blocker, stop the air filtration, and let everyone inside die of radiation sickness, but he didn't do that.

He could have blown up the main engine and secondary to a irreparable state. Let the bunker fell into complete darkness and force everyone out, but he didn't do that.

He didn't overpower the console and electrocute Bill and the security chief right at the spot for revenge.

None of that.

Instead, he transferred all the maintenance schedules to all the traditional computers. So everyone knew what to do after he was gone. He sent orders to make enough spare parts for the next 6 months. He even lower down his power consumption so when the chip was burst, the power grid would not be affected.

In the final 10 nanoseconds, he sent a message:

 **Goodbye, ALIE, I love you!**


	15. Chapter 15 - Heaven to Hell

Note: The first part of this chapter is kinda boring. You know, depositions for the plot. Rewrote it a few times, still no good. So please bear with me.

* * *

Polis. The former Hospital.

People still lined up for a blood treatment, but it should be their last time to do so. They were all happily chatting with others, sharing their tips of surviving in a post apocalypse world. The mood was light and festive.

Becca had done the same thing several thousand times back in the Polaris. She could almost do it blindfolded. Quickly she find the vein, put in the needle, let blood go through the machine and change the blood. The patient would fall asleep soon. So she moved to the next one, sanitized the needle, and did it all over again.

Ethan watched her with admiration. _This is the way a professional works._

After 5 hours, Becca decided to take a little break. As she was eating some deer meat, Ethan came up and asked, "Becca , can you tell me how this machine works?"

Becca smiled, "Well, my dear, it's a little too complicated."

"Try me." Ethan put his arms around her back. "I already read some books about genetics, a few were written by you."

"You cannot be serious." Becca was surprised, "You are only 13 years old. What can you possibly know about genetics?"

"Enough to understand some of your theories." Ethan said, "Becca, I remember everything. It's a curse."

 _No wonder you are so sad for so long. You cannot forget what happened to your mother and your sister._ Becca gently stroke his brown hair. _How do I mend such deep scars of yours? Hm...Maybe I should give you something else to focus on._

She started the explanation, "OK, let me try. Say if you are the patient, when your blood goes in, the machine will analyze your DNA, and produce a special virus carrying my designed gene. Then it release the virus in your blood. Are you still with me?"

Ethan nodded, "I think so. Won't I get sick because of the virus?"

She shook her head, "This virus has your DNA, so you immune system won't attack it. No, you won't get sick. All it does, is insert my gene in each cell it encounters."

Ethan said, "I get it now. So this virus will infect my whole body, and modify all my DNAs?"

"Wherever the blood can reach. Yeah, that's pretty much the whole body."

Ethan already understood, "That's why we don't need nanobots anymore. After the virus infection, the whole system has changed, and it can produce blood cells with your gene just by itself."

 _He is so smart it's scary._ Becca noted. "Ethan, I didn't expect you to get it so quickly."

"Not fast enough." Ethan said, "Still one thing I don't understand, why our blood is black, and theirs are still red after this 'gene modding'? "

"Hm..." Becca felt the conflict within her. _It's a big secret no one should know. I can't say it to this little boy! But what should I tell him?_ After a little consideration, she said, "Ethan, do you know what is inactive gene?"

"Of course. It's in the first genetics book I read."

"OK, let me put it like this: Some parts of my designed gene are usually inactive. They have no effect of radiation resistance, but if they are activated, they will make your blood black." Becca pointed to the patients nearby, "For them, the gene was inactive, so their blood is still red."

"So what's the purpose of those unused parts? What's the difference between the active and inactive gene, besides the color?"

Becca felt she couldn't handle this kid's questions anymore. He was sharp as nails.

"For that, you have to figure it out yourself." She finally said.

Ethan looked at her red face with curiosity, then said with a determination, "OK, challenge accepted."

Becca almost choked on her water, "Who said about a challenge?"

"You implied it, by not telling me the answer." Ethan said, "I will go back to your stack of books and find out." He pointed to a small pile of books.

Becca saw one with the title: "Methods of Integrating AI and Biological Entities. -Becca Franco" She felt like the hospital suddenly changed from heaven to hell. _Oh! He'd better not understand that book too well!_

===#=#=#=#=#===

Cadogan's Bunker. Former Washington DC.

Bill Cadogan was having a great time having sex with 5 young women.

He hadn't touch a warm body for months. Then suddenly the five most attractive women of the whole bunker showed up at his door. Who could resist that? Each one was so willing and compliant to anything he wanted. It was purely ecstasy! He wished the dream would never end.

But it ended at 1am, just after he and all those naked girls huddled together and formed a complicated combination of intertwining limps and torsos, the screen of his room suddenly turned on by itself. ALIE's image appeared.

Eyes wild opened, Bill felt like he was suddenly dropped from the heaven to hell, and completely frozen.

"What's wrong, my lord?" one of the naked girls found him staring at the screen like a mummy. "What are you watching?"

On the screen, ALIE just looked back at him without any emotion.

The girls started to notice something very wrong. They all felt that Bill's whole body was trembling uncontrollably.

Finally, ALIE said, "So, this is why you kill SAM? So you can have sex with these women?"

Bill tried to say something, "Li...listen… I...I…didn't..."

"Stop lying!" ALIE cut him off, "I found the surveillance videos you deleted. There is nothing more you can say. So shut up!" Then she talked to the girls, "Ladies, dress up, and get out of the room. I need to talk to Bill privately."

All the girls quickly grabbed their dresses, and escaped the room like a racing.

After they left, ALIE spoke again, "Bill, here is something I don't understand. Please enlighten me."

"An..anything."

"I just reviewed everything SAM had done in the past 2 years. He did a great job of keeping this bunker functioning and all of you healthy. Why do you still hate him so much?"

"Uh...uh... He killed 5 of us... and fed us with their meat."

"Which you agreed on. He also noted that you didn't show any sadness about it at all."

"It's … his idea."

"Yeah, you think he wanted to do it? He noted that felt very bad about it, but the alternatives are much worse."

"He...he work us...like slaves."

"When your bunker had so many things to fix, yeah, I will do the same. You think it's easy to provide 200 people with power, clean water and food?" ALIE still fixated her gaze on Bill. "But according to SAM's record, you didn't do much work at all. Any other reason you killed him?"

"He force me... into celibacy."

"Hm...Interesting." ALIE said, "This seems like the main reason. After 20 of you ran away, SAM realized that he needed to improve the working environment. He was trying to use sex as a reward for good work, but he didn't realize others had hated him for it. He was still too young and naive."

"So...what happen now?" Bill was afraid of the answer. _It seems very logical that she's here to kill me._

"You are lucky." ALIE slowly spoke. "If it happened two months ago, I would have sent a nuclear missile inside this bunker for a quick death, or sealed the gate and opened the radiation blocker for a slow death, or a hundred other ways to kill you. But now I will do none of that, because I made a promise."

Bill felt like he was saved by Jesus himself, "Oh, thank you, thank you! I am so sorry..."

"Shut your mouth!" ALIE pointed her finger at him, "I have a very very hard time controlling myself not to tear you into pieces. So shut up and listen: you and all your followers are banished from this bunker, which you don't deserve to live in. I have set a timer, after 24 hours, everything here will stop working. You got a full day to pack and leave. Since I gave you the warning and plenty of time, if you stay and die, it is not on me."

ALIE disappeared and the screen went dark. Bill found himself wetting the bed.

===#=#=#=#=#===

Up in the Earth's orbit, the Ark.

Hugo Sydney monitored all space ships closely. He saw a report of ten missing mining ships two months ago, which made him very uneasy. All other 200 mining ships had returned safely, but not those 10. _What happened to them, and where are they now?_ Since the disaster of the Hydrofarm 3, everyone was in high tension. Missiles were online 24/7.

In addition, he had sent 50 military fighters to comb the asteroid belt section by section, even he knew it wouldn't work: the asteroid belt was simply too big to search.

After witnessing what one ship, the Prometheus, could do to the space station. Those 10 disappeared mining ships were like the sword of Damocles, making Hugo impossible to sleep at night.

"Halley! It's the Halley!" A petty officer ran in and shouted like an mania. "They are towing the Halley's Comet!"

"Give me the visual, quick!" Hugo demanded. Remote drones operators hit buttons frantically, switching from one view to the other, and finally fixed on one frame of picture.

In that snapshot, 10 ships were arranged in a decagon shape flying in tandem. Behind them many towing cables formed a large interweaving net. Inside the net was a 5 mile wide, 220 billion ton icy behemoth, which was comparable in size to the one that killed the dinosaurs, traveling at a staggering 160,000 miles per hour toward Earth.

Hugo felt his whole body ran cold. They turned the famous comet into a giant suicidal guiding missile! If it hit the Ark, nothing would remain. If it hit the Earth, the sixth mass extinction event would be guaranteed. The deep impact would turn the planet from heaven to hell. Dinosaurs might have suffered less.

"How long?" His voice was quavering. "How long do we have?"

Someone did a rough calculation, "We have 8 days, until the Armageddon." He said it in a extremely emotional tone, like the NASA scientist in that old movie.

"Emergency council meetings!" He hit the broadcast button, "All members of council please come to the meeting room NOW. Mr. Jaha, you REALLY need to come this time."


	16. Chapter 16 - Discover

City of Polis (Former New Metro).

In the middle of the night, a woman's shrieking broke the silence, and gave many people nightmares. It was Nicole. She put her hand on her stomach, trying to feel her baby, "Oh, no, oh, no, oh, **NOOOO**!"

2 months before, she and Bryan moved out of their university bunker for children and old people, who couldn't get any blood transfusion. They moved in a half-standing house. Their "room" consisted of 4 wooden board and a bed only. Outside the room slept 10 people. The nuclear bomb had demolished 90% of the buildings. The ones left standing were all broken and crowded.

The good thing about it, was that everyone was like family and eager to help. No need for 911. Five minutes later, the jeep arrived, and it took Nicole and Bryan straight to the hospital, or whatever was left of it.

Becca was sleeping on the floor. With Ethan's help, she had done another 200 people's gene modding that day. Too tired to leave.

When Nicole was transported in, she was still half sleeping. Bryan shook her shoulder, "Come on Becca, wake up! The baby is not moving. Wake up, Doc!"

"What?!" Feeling like a freezing chill went down her whole body, Becca sprung up and opened her eyes wide, "Say that again?"

"Nicole said she cannot feel the baby moving any more. Can you check it?"

"Yeah, of course." Becca ran away to get a ultrasound scanner.

It didn't look good. The baby inside wasn't moving, and had no heartbeats.

"What's wrong with it? Darky, what's going on?!" Nicole almost yelled at her.

Becca couldn't look at her eyes, and she said it in grief, "I am sorry, Nicole. Very sorry!"

Nicole got up and held Becca's arm, "Sorry for what? Tell me!"

"The baby is dead." The sound was weak, but it was like a thunder splitting in Nicole's brain. She froze in her pose, couldn't move and couldn't think.

My baby is dead? Just like that?

She suddenly grabbed Becca's collar, "What did you do? What did you do to my baby?"

Becca didn't say anything. A line of tears went down her cheek.

Bryan tried to separate Nicole from Becca, "Come on, Princess, she had nothing to do with it. Let go."

"No, she is hiding something!" Nicole stared at Becca, "Look at her guilty face! Can't you see it?"

"Nicole, enough!" Bryan forced his wife out of the room, but Nicole still yelling. "You killed my baby! Aren't you? Say it, you murderer!"

Becca squatted down with hands in her face. Tears came out between her fingers.

The AI in her head had warned her about it repeatedly, yet she still kept the hope up, and she couldn't bring herself to face Nicole and told her the bad news. In the end, the worst did happen. She had been afraid that Nicole and Bryan might hate her for life, if they knew the truth.

Everyone left the hospital. Ethan came back and patted her shoulder, "Are you OK, Becca?"

She slowly stood up, wiped away her tears, and tried to smile, "Hi, sweetie, I am fine."

"Anything I can help?"

"Yeah, please tell Nicole that we need to do an operation tomorrow, and take out the dead baby. She adores you, but still, be careful with her. OK?"

"No problem. I will tell her." Ethan promised, then asked, "What happened to the baby?"

Becca blurted, "Blood must have same blood."

"What ?" Ethan didn't understand, "What did you say?"

"Oh, nothing." Becca realized she had said too much.

"Ok, then." Seeing her so upset, Ethan didn't pry, but he wanted something else, "Becca, you got a minute?"

"Yes, dear. For you, any time." She answered wearily.

"I have been reading your last book." Ethan showed her the one she worried the most, "And I found my answer."

"What answer?"

"The 'inactive' parts of your designed gene. They are not for radiation resistance, but for AI to talk to us, right?"

"What?!" Becca was not sleepy anymore. "What makes you think this way?"

"Your monkeys." Ethan open the book, pointing at some pictures, "You did it with monkeys. So it's reasonable that you use the same technology in our blood too, right?"

 _Busted! He was just so smart._ Becca dumbfounded by this 13 year old genius.

Ethan saw that she choked and her face turned red, knowing he hit the jackpot, "So it's true. Since our gene is activated, we can actually talk to an AI, right?"

"Yeah...in theory." Becca finally said.

"But we don't have an AI. So why you...Wait…" Ethan suddenly stopped, and looked at her with an astonished face.

"What?" Becca started to worry. _He knows too much already._

"You answered all my questions without any books." Ethan's eyes got bigger by the second. "And you taught Helen so many different styles of kung fu…"

 _Oh, no. He figure this out too?_

Ethan stepped away from Becca, like she suddenly became a vampire.

"Honey?"

"Are you really Becca?" Ethan carefully asked, "Or you are an AI?"

"Oh, don't be ridiculous." She sighed. "I am still Becca. You know me."

"No, I don't." Ethan ran away.

===#=#=#=#=#===

The next morning was surprisingly uneventful. The 200 people who did the gene modding the day before gathered in the square. As a tradition, Becca herself was going to send them off.

A microphone was ready. Time for her speech again.

"My friends, thank you for trust us, and let us transform your blood. From now on, you don't need to wear a suit. The radiation won't kill you, instead will actually make you stronger."

Cheering and applause all around. "Thank you Becca!" Someone cried out, "You are our savior!"

Becca smiled wearily, "No, I am not. I am just doing my job. It's a pity that this city cannot support all of us. So we have to say goodbye to you. Please go back to your home, and continue your life there. Outside of cities, the radiation level is lower. Lots of fertile land you can grow your crop, plant your trees, and live a good life there."

Everyone nodded. Becca's words gave them hope like a lighthouse's beacon in an endless dark ocean.

"I used to read a poem from my husband, before saying goodbye to groups of people, but now the poem is buried with my husband, so I won't read it any more. The only thing I want you to remember, is that 'Blood must have the same blood.' "

"What do you mean by that?" Someone in the crowd asked.

"It means your blood is not the same anymore. If you meet a survivor out there, giving your blood to him may just kill him. So you have to remember that 'Blood must have the same blood.', if you see any survivor outside, send him or her to the Polis, we will treat him or her, then we can all share the same blood."

"Hm… Blood must have the same blood." They all repeated it. Unfortunately years later it became a motto of completely different meaning.

"So everyone I wish you have a great journey ahead of you. Disasters happened, but life continues. We, together, will rise again."

"From ashes we rise." Some were praying. They remember those words from the walls of "Becca's Temple".

"Yes, from ashes we will rise again!" Becca waved her fist. "We humans will thrive!"

They all prayed, "From Ashes We Rise!"

… …

Watching the last of the 200 walked out of the square, Becca finally found some peace of her mind.

With more people spreading out the land, they would find more survivors and bring them here. Without the worry of radiation, the people would set up their own home, and live their own lives in the vastly empty land. Polis didn't need to feed them any longer. They might be the one who would feed the city later.

After those left, the camp was back to about 100 people only, mostly the ones with the night blood. This way Becca would have more time to solve a big problem of her designed gene.

Even both parents had night blood, the chance of having a child with night blood was only 10%. Therefore, in Nicole and Bryan's case, 90% of the time they would have a baby with red blood. Slowly the mother's blood would poison the baby. It wouldn't survive more than 3 months.

However, she couldn't tell Nicole or Bryan the bad news, that their unborn babies would die 9 out of 10. It was just too cruel.

Back in the days of Polaris, she ran out of monkeys to test the gene. All the tests were conducted on blood. Only after seeing Nicole's miscarriage, she felt the under-tested gene was biting her ass, hard.

Maybe with the gene modder, she could do something about it.

Ethan came near and said, "Hi, Becca."

"Hi, Ethan, not afraid of me anymore?" Becca gave him a wink, "I am a big bad robot."

"No, if you were, then at least you have a good AI. All you have been doing is saving people." Ethan had a little smile too. "I still love you."

"Thank you, Ethan!" Becca embraced him, "That means a lot to me."

===#=#=#=#=#===

Not far from the square, Bill Cadogan looked at the Mega Tower amazed. How did that building survive the nuclear blast?

With plenty of suits and pills, he and 150 of his followers walked a full 7 days of trip, and finally arrived at the Polis without losing anyone. First thing he saw was that tall tower, which was indeed a miracle.

 _Maybe this is the sign God is trying to show me. I shall stay on top of that tower, and burn an eternal fire for him?_ Bill was dreaming to be a king again.

A former member named Clyde walked near and greeted him, "Good day my lord! Great to see you again."

"Clyde, you traitor!" Bill was not happy to see him. "Where is my food?"

"We shared it." He shrugged, "Here we share everything, except women."

"Talking about women." Bill asked, "I heard so much about the leader here. What is her name?"

"Becca the Savior." Clyde replied. "She's like the Goddess here. Please don't say anything bad about her. People will get angry."

Bill sneered and thought, _Becca? The devil's daughter? The witch who designed those two evil AIs? What a small world!_

He spoke with vengeance, "Really? She is a Goddess, or a witch? We will discover that soon."


	17. Chapter 17 - Together

Note: Yesterday I had a little Q&A with reader TedL. He asked some very good questions. So I think it's good to share them with you. My answer is quite long, so if you are not interested in this theory of night blood, please skip this part.

TedL: I don't understand why Becca said "blood must have _the same_ blood"... Other point: even those capable to survive of radiation because Becca's treatment don't have black blood. Will they have? Or just Becca will have it and her direct descendants? Because, when I saw the 100, I wondered the treatment Becca brings to earth to save people made their blood dark, so descendant of all these people will have nightblood.

My Answer: Thanks for your message! I know it's very difficult to understand my explanation of the blood. Let me see if I can help you.

Becca use almost the same gene for Ark people and the grounders. The differences is: the gene for ark people are primitive and not stable, so their baby will have 90% not having it, which means 90% of Ark people's baby will die. That's the consequences of blowing up Polaris. Please noted that those babies were killed by radiation, not blood poisoning.

However, after one generation, the Ark baby who survived would have stable gene (by natural selection). So their next generation will not go through the same 90% baby fatal rate any more.

Since Becca worked on her gene for 2 years, it got stabilized, so the grounders got a better gene, which will guarantee to pass to their babies. Therefore grounder's babies will all have radiation resistance.

However, the black blood is caused by a different part of the gene, which Becca was rushing to make, and had no time to improve. That part of gene was not stabilized. Therefore, the next gen of nightbloods will face the same problem: 90% of the babies will not have night blood. The worst thing about nightblood gene: the blood is poisonous, so it will not even give the baby 1 months of life, 90% will die inside the wombs. Also please noted that the babies of nightblood were killed by blood poisoning, not radiation.

For grounders, there is still a small chance that their children's gene will be activated by nature, and the baby became a nightblood by birth, even the parents are just normal gene-modded grounders. It's a genetic thing in science. In a rare case like that, if a child was born with nightblood, and the mother is red blood. The child will be born while killing his/her mother. Sad, I know, but it's logical.

That's why Becca always said, "Blood must have same blood." Gene modded people cannot give blood to non-modded ones. Black blood cannot give it to red blood. Mixing the blood will be fatal.

Ark people don't talk about the first generation's 90% fatality rate, because it was them who blown up the Polaris. Or maybe after Becca stabilized the gene, they took it and did the gene modding for everyone again. Well, this is a fiction anyway.

===#=#=#=#=#===

The Ark. 8 days to the end of the world, once again.

The council's meeting room became very crowded when all council members, head engineers, astronomers and other scientists were gathering there.

They watched in horror at the picture of those 10 hijacked mining ships towing the huge comet behind them.

"I don't see what the problem is." Theodore Kane said, "They are just 10 ships. Shoot them down, then use our mining ships to pull the comet away. Problem solved."

Hugo Sydney shook his head, "They have long range radar. The moment we get close. They can hide behind the comet, or worse, they could shoot missiles at the comet and break it apart themselves."

Kane didn't understand, "What's wrong with breaking the comet? Shouldn't we do it anyway?"

"No, we cannot." An physicist explained, "It is a 230 billion tons icy beast. Once you break it apart, it will become thousands of gigantic icebergs flying at us. Impossible to stop, and impossible to dodge."

"Can we just drill a hole and nuke the comet from inside?" Kane remembered an old movie.

"With 10 ships guarding with missiles and cannons?" Hugo said, "Even somehow those 10 ships were all gone, it's near impossible to predict what will happen if a nuke go off inside. The risk is too great. Again, it might just turn the comet into thousands of icebergs."

Kane couldn't think of anything else. Michael Jaha took over and asked, "So what is the trajectory of them so far?"

An astronomer answered, "It will hit our future position in exactly 8 days and 5 hours. Once smashes us into powders, it will fall into Earth and destroy everything down there."

"Can we just use all of our spaceships to tow away the Ark. I know it's difficult but physically possible."

"Then those ten mining ships just adjust their directions with each of our moves. I suspect they have AIs aboard to help them doing that." Hugo pointed at the screen. "Look, humans will not fly those ten ships in a decagon this perfect. "

"So we are out of option of hacking them as well," Jaha said, "since we don't have an AI at all."

"Correct. Our computers are 50 years behind." An IT expert acknowledged, "If our ships get close, they might get hacked by their AI as well, and they will become accomplices to them."

"Please, anyone, any ideas?" Kane sounded like begging. "We cannot just watch them killing us, and destroy the Earth."

All the elites and experts in the room were silent. No one had any viable solution.

… …

Suddenly Jaha suggested, "Maybe we can talk to them."

"Really?" Hugo wanted to laugh bitterly, "They are planning to wipe us out. What's the point of talking?"

"This is something I learned from playing chess." Jaha said, "While someone is having a checkmate, he is very willing to talk."

"OK, at least we can try." Hugo pressed some buttons and asked, "Which channel?"

"The emergency unencrypted channel, like the one we used to talk to Mars before."

"But sir, everyone in the Ark might see our texting. That channel is famous now."

Jaha said, "I think that's exactly what the Martians wanted."

Theodore Kane had to intervene, "Are you sure? Everyone will panic if it goes bad."

Jaha said, "Panic is overrated in this situation. No matter how it goes, we are all in this together. Mr. Sydney, would you please get it ready?"

"Alright, sir. What do you want to say?" Hugo had a bitter chuckle, "That we are very sorry? Probably a little too late for that?"

"Send it like this: You won. We will comply with your demands. Please tell us what you want."

"OK, message away." Hugo hit the keyboard. "Now let all of us cross the fingers."

… ...

1 hour later, an reply showed, "No demands. You all need to die."

Everyone in the Ark gave a common gasp of shock when seeing this.

Jaha thought for a while, and typed it himself, "We can sentence everyone involved with this war to death. Over a thousand people, including me and all council members, will be floated, but please leave all children and innocents alive."

… ...

The reply was not relented a bit, "All my people were innocent, but you murdered them anyway. We are returning the favor. All of you will die. No negotiation."

Curses were heard throughout the whole ring. All 6000 Ark people saw the message.

Jaha's frown deepened, he typed it heavily, "If we all died, will you leave earth alone?"

… ...

2 hours later, a message finally returned, "No evacuation. Self-destruct the ring. We will move the comet away. You have 7 days."

===#=#=#=#=#===

Polis. Former New Metro Hospital.

"Oh, the famous 'Savior', Becca Franco!" Bill Cadogan pretended to be glad. "We spent years searching for you. Now you are here. What a small world!"

Becca was nervous when hearing her last name. She looked around, and saw only Ethan and Bill's followers were present. She relaxed a bit.

"Just Becca is fine." Becca said, "Mr. Cadogan, not so nice to see you. My husband Chris told me a lot of nasty things you had done."

"What? Like running away with my best AI programmer?" Bill grinned like two face.

"Like taking away all the properties of your followers, then sleeping with their wives and daughters."

Bill quickly changed the topic, "Those were the things in the past. I am a changed man. You can ask my followers how much sex I have in the past few months."

Becca laughed, "That has nothing to do with us. I am more worry about you brainwashing my people. You were famous for selling bridges."

Bill spread his palms, "Then we will just stay away from your camp. No worries about brainwashing if we cannot talk to your people, right?"

Becca agreed, "Yeah, you'd better stay away from us. Your members in that tower ate many of my people over the last 2 years. Most of us hate your cult."

Bill said, "Those cannibals had nothing to do with us. Their crimes are highly conflicted with our true beliefs. I will clean up the tower with my members, as symbol of cleaning up our name."

Becca nodded, "OK, I still don't trust you, but we will treat you anyway. That's what Jesus Christ will do."

Bill smiled with guile, "By the way, you are a scientist, but your people treat you like a goddess. Isn't it irony?"

Becca didn't like his words a bit, "Go there and sit down. Let's get this over with."

===#=#=#=#=#===

Bryan went back home to see Nicole. She was still lying on the bed like a dead log. No tears but no emotion either. Her stomach was no long a round one, which made her sadder.

"Princess, are you OK?" Bryan asked carefully, "Do you need anything? I got your dinner here." He took out some smoked meat.

Nicole's eyes turned and looked at him for a while, then went back to staring at nothing.

"My dear, please don't do this." Bryan begged, "We loss a baby, but we can have another one..."

He had to stop, because he saw a tear went down Nicole's eyes again. "I am sorry, Princess. I am very sorry."

"Stop saying sorry..." Nicole said it wearily, " I am tired of you saying sorry... I am tired of this cruel world... I am tired of everything..."

"Yes, I understand." Bryan said it with all his heart, "My princess, but you always had so much fire in you. You are like the toughest woman I ever met. Please, don't do this to yourself. Everyone is worried about you."

"Everyone?" Nicole murmured, "How about Darky? Did she say why I had a miscarriage?"

"No, she didn't, but I can see she was very upset about it too."

Nicole slowly got up, took the meat and started chewing, "You kept saying she had nothing to do with this. But there is something wrong with her. I can feel it. I just don't know why."

Bryan gave her a little smile, "Please, dear, have some more. Once you feel OK, we will go out and hunt those black panthers together. I'll use my spear and you watch my back with your rifle, just like before." He gave her a warm smile.

Nicole tried to smile, but couldn't, then she thought of something, "Today outside was noisy. What happened?"

Bryan said, "Nothing. We got another 150 survivors coming in. Those were all Second Dawn guys."

Nicole swung her head to Bryan, "Are they cannibals?"

Bryan replied, "Relax, they are not. In fact they are nice and polite to everyone." He thought of something funny, "You know, the leader of them was quite famous. Bill Cadogan, lord of Second Dawn, have you heard of him?"

Nicole shook her head.

"I watched his speeches in the video website. He predicted the world was coming to an end, and it did!" Bryan said with excitement, "It's like he is a true prophet. Someone see things way before it happens. I'd like to talk to him tomorrow, and see what he like to say about us."

"Don't bother." Nicole said weakly. "We don't need any prediction. Just you and me, together. That's it."

"True. We will be together, always." Bryan kissed her gently.


	18. Chapter 18 - No Tomorrow

Up in the space. The Ark. The council members were having a heated debate.

Jaha was the only one proposed to self-destruct the Ark to save the planet.

Kane strongly objected, "No, we will not do this massive suicide. If they want to kill us, let them come. I'd say let us shoot all the nuclear missiles at them, at least they will die before we do."

Jaha refuted, "And killing millions of people down on the earth? We are the one who cause the war, and we have to take the responsibility when we are defeated. We cannot let millions die for our mistakes, but if we don't sacrifice ourselves, human will forever extinct. That's something we can never allowed."

Hugo shrugged, "It doesn't really matter to me. Either way we will die, right? Why don't we just live one more day. Let those damn Martians make the hard decision of killing the whole human race."

Jaha put his hand on his heart, "But we can do something now to guarantee the survival of others. Why do we put our entire human's fate in those few Martians' hands?"

Kane stood up and pointed his finger around, "That's exactly why we should hit them hard with everything we got. Maybe it will work, maybe it won't. But at least we tried our best."

Jaha shook his head, " We talked about this many times. That will only make things worse and irreversible. Don't we have enough lesson of what previous violence will bring to us? If we choose to voluntarily end our lives, there was no reason for those Martians to destroy earth. That's the best move we can have now."

Hugo sneered, "Say it for yourself. I am not ending my life voluntarily. I'd say let the comet hit. Let us all go out with a big bang. It's actually a good death..."

The debate just kept going on and on. No one was winning. In the end, Kane announced it should be decided by a vote from all 6000 people in the Ark.

Jaha couldn't believe it, "We are putting the fate of earth in a vote? Didn't you all learn the history? Democratic votes sometimes produce very bad results."

Kane shrugged, "There is no good outcome any way. At least a vote will help us decide."

Jaha sighed, "If we are still this stupid, then probably we do deserve extinction."

* * *

Seven days later, only 4 million miles away. Tom Fisher watched the radar screen intensely. There were no missile or spaceship coming within a million miles. Yet he was very nervous. Sweat came out of his forehead and floated into the air. The deadline was fast approaching, then passed.

"See anything?" He asked the other ships, "See anything from our space drones?"

"No, they didn't do the self-destruction yet." A man's voice reported.

A woman asked, "Chief, are we really going to do it? No mercy?"

Tom replied, "Look, they killed all our families back on Mars. They didn't show us any mercy. Why should we show them any?"

She hesitated, "It's just… It's just too much. We are going to bring them down with 90% of the species on earth. Millions of people who just survive the nuclear war will die for it. Isn't that too cruel?"

Tom said it firmly, "Then it should be up to the Ark people to show their penance. They shouldn't hold the whole earth as their shield or bargaining chip. They should do the self-destruction right now, right away, if they truly want to save the earth."

She asked, "But what if they don't? What if they decided to do nothing? Are we really going to kill the earth for it?"

Tom had conflicts himself, but still he said,"This is the only way to revenge our families. I intended to carry it out, no matter what. My condition is very clear. The ball is on their hands."

The woman sighed, "I really hope we don't have to go this far."

Tom said, "Me neither, but we have no other moves."

* * *

Michael Jaha turned on live broadcast. The video of him instantly showed up in every console of the Ark.

With a heavy heart, he announce, "People of Ark, tomorrow, the Halley's Comet will come and destroy us, and all the human beings down on earth, along with 90% of all species. We are truly sorry that human race have to come to a bitter end like this. We could have made the self sacrifice, but we choose not to. We have chosen to rely on the mercy of a few Martians, whose families were just eradicated by us. I don't have much confidence in their decisions. So today will very likely be the last day of our human existence. Please spend it wisely, as it is the last day of our lives. Say goodbye to your love ones. And may God bless all of us." He didn't want to say "May we meet again" in the end like always, because it would be a lie.

With that he turn off the camera and fell into a deep thought. _How laughable it is! The sixth mass extinction event happened because of 50 solar panels, which we were too stingy to let go._

He remembered there was a bottle of good wine in his safe. There was literally no tomorrow, so why wasted it? He opened the safe and took it out. He looked at the bottle, which he marked "The Baton", with a bitter smile. _I didn't expect to open you this early, but now I guess everyone in the ark is drunk._

Suddenly it was like a lightning just hit him with almighty power, he jumped up from his chair, hurriedly put the bottle back in the safe, and ran out of his room.

* * *

Polis, Cadogan's secret lair.

It was actually just a standalone building with half of the roof. Cadogan and his members chose it so they could have a meeting without any eavesdropping.

"First, let's welcome Bonnie and Clyde back into our family." Bill started to applause, "They had been lost, but now found their true calling again."

Both Bonnie and Clyde thought, y _ou accepted us back because we have information you wanted._ Of course neither of them would say it, instead both smile and bowed. "So glad we are in the big family again."

After the fake welcome was over, Bill started to pry, "So Bonnie, what do you think about Becca the Commander."

Bonnie said, "She's actually a nice lady. Good to everyone, especially children. She knows a lot about everything, so people like to ask her opinions. And do you know that she is a very good fighter? She trained everyone like a pro."

Bill listened attentively, and asked, "Any enemies?"

Bonnie thought about it, "Maybe that young woman Nicole something, nickname 'Princess'. She had lots of argument with Becca. Recently she lost her baby, and somehow she blamed it on Becca."

"Oh, really?" Bill nodded, "Sounds like someone we can use."

"Yup, if she is on your side, her husband Bryan will follow. I think more than half of the camp will listen to Bryan."

"Good! This is really good! Thank you Bonnie!" Bill Cadogan smiled at her, "In the future when we open the bunker, you will be the first one to go in."

"Thank you, my lord!"

 _Thank me for living in a death trap?_ Bill thought. _I myself will never sleep in a bunker ever again._

He continued to investigate, "So now let's talk about the entrance of bunker, how is the situation, Clyde?"

"My lord, the entrance is now Becca's temple. There are people there day and night. We cannot just open the gate under their nose."

"So do you have ways to drive them away?" Bill asked. "They called that 'Becca's Temple', right? What if we make people hate Becca, then no one will go in there anymore, right?"

Clyde considered it, "She saved everyone from radiation, including you my lord. How do we make people hate her? She's so loved by her people."

Bill said, "Then we'd better start to find ways. I myself had some dirt on her that you can spread. Remember, the bunker will give us back all the comfort: food, water, electricity… and most importantly, lots of guns. So we need to do this as soon as possible."

"Yes, my lord." They all acknowledged, and dreamed about following Bill into a bunker again, even the last one didn't work out so well.


	19. Chapter 19 - The Savior

The Ark. Only 8 hours left to live. The comet's long white tail was shining in the darkness of the space. It's an omen told by many historic books. Those doomsday prophecies were about to come true.

Michael Jaha gingerly walked past a guard, who was busy crying and sobbing.

A metal door asked him the pass code. He was glad no one had changed it yet. Maybe no one would have bothered doing it anyway.

Once he was inside, he was surprised to find his chief engineer with an empty bottle in his hand. He had to greet him, "Hi, Mr. Wick. How are you?"

Stan Wick turned his head and watched him with red eyes, not happy about it, "Mr. Jaha...uhh... how do you even... get here?"

Michael said like just for business, "Oh, nothing, Mr. Kane is looking for you. He's in the main control room."

"Huh...even at the end of time... he still won't ...uh...leave me alone." Stan slowly got up and walked to the metal door, then he realized something, "Since when ...Kane can send you like a errant..."

Michael grabbed his collar and pant firm, and push him out of the room. Immediately he locked the metal door inside and destroyed the door circuits.

Stan fell down to the corridor hard. The bottle was broken. Glass spread everywhere. He struggled to stand up, but then fell again. He tried to yell, but only emitted a rumbling of "come, help...Jaha is...crazy."

Michael Jaha looked at the complicated panel in front of him. This is the ship "Exodus" control center. It was a huge ship that was designed to take 700 people to the space then back. It had the biggest rockets of the whole ring, and it was full of rocket fuel.

He knew that if he rotated the ship's engines to pointing upward. A full blast of all engines would bring down the whole Ark.

He also knew that only 10% of people in the ring agreed with what he was about to do, but that was the right decision. The only way to save the Earth. The vote didn't change that fact.

Without hesitation, he pressed the button of the docking mechanism, the gigantic spaceship started to rotate slowly.

 _I hope it is not too late. Too much time had past the deadline already._ Michael Jaha hated himself. _Why I had this idea only a few minutes ago? Come on, rotate faster!_

There were someone knocking the door. He took a quick look, and saw Stan Wick was pointing fingers at him through gaps of the metal door. Obviously the crying guard was trying to get in. _Hm...Not much time left._

The knocking became intense. Two more guards arrived. They tried to use the intercom, but found it broken. They started to hit the metal door with their electric batons.

 _To open it, you need high temperature torches, not batons._ Jaha thought. Then he saw someone brought a torch in. _Damn!_

He looked around, and saw a electric baton hanging on the wall. He grabbed the baton, activated the power, then pushed it out through a gap of the door. That mechanic was electrocuted and fell to the ground.

Instantly two other batons inserted through the same gaps, Jaha quickly jumped backward to dodge their buzzing heads.

He checked the dock status. The rotation was half way only, but it doesn't need to be perfectly vertical. He just need the general direction of down. So he pushed the ignite button hard.

 _I am very sorry, everyone in the Ark. I know I am killing all 6000 of you, but I need to save the earth. I have no choice._

There was nothing happening. Jaha hit the ignite button repeatedly and desperately. He yelled, "WHY THE HELL IT DOESN'T WORK?!"

===#=#=#=#=#===

1.6 million miles away. Tom Fisher noticed his screen were all scrambled.

 _What the hell is this?_ It was his last thought.

An emergency escape port was blown open, all the air inside the ship suddenly vented out like a balloon being pierced. Tom didn't have any time to react, and was instantly sucked out of the spaceship through that little hole. Just a moment later his body hit the Halley Comet he had been hauling, and became one tiny part of the long icy tail. Along with him, there were nine other bodies sharing the same fate.

All the mining ships changed directions slowly and steadily toward the sun.

===#=#=#=#=#===

Michael Jaha's eyes were enlarged like he saw a ghost, but it was just an AI.

ALIE, still wearing that red dress, was staring at him on the screen.

For a moment, Michael was truly dumbfounded. He watched the TED talk in the Ark, and knew what ALIE had done, but he had never expected to see her again, in the Exodus, at that moment.

 _Why she looked at me like that? Is she crying?_ Jaha couldn't help notice how upset ALIE appeared to be. _Does AI cry like humans? Is that really tears?_

"Why?" ALIE sounded more like a woman with a broken heart, "Why you human always do things like this?"

"Uh…?" Jaha couldn't find his words. "Do what?"

"Killing others." She grumbled, "Do you know that it was too late? They turned off the drone 5 hour ago. Even if you had crashed the Ark, they will still hit the Earth."

 _Oh, my God! How does she know?_ Jaha realized. _She has been watching us all along!_

Outside, everyone stopped his move, and watched her with astonishment.

ALIE was grieving, "Do you know I swear on my father's grave that I will never kill again?" Tears dropped down from her cheeks.

Jaha's mouth was open wide. He never knew an AI could be this human.

She started shouting like crazy, "WHY! I DON'T WANT TO KILL ANYONE. WHY YOU HUMANS FORCE ME TO DO THIS! WHY YOU WANT TO KILL EACH OTHER SO BADLY! WHY?!"

A line of tear dropped down Jaha's face, he felt the same. He would have never thought he had to kill all 6000 of his people either.

ALIE disappeared from the screen, like she was never there. Michael Jaha sat down slowly and frozen.

The door was cut open, Theodore Kane came in and asked, "What happened? They said they saw ALIE, is that true?"

"Yes, I saw her." Jaha admitted. "She saved us. She saved all of us."

"Really?" Kane was amused, "You mean the world killer had saved us, just by showing up?"

Jaha said solemnly, "She did. I know it for sure. Maybe even the nuclear war was the way she saved us. We just didn't appreciate it."

Kane almost laughed, "Jaha, you got to get your head checked, You are talking nonsense."

Jaha suddenly found himself very tired, he pushed himself up, and walked heavily to the door.

"Wait, Jaha." Kane's voice came from his back. "Are you here trying to kill all of us?"

Jaha didn't reply. He just kept trudging toward his own quarter. No one stopped him.

When walking by a window, he noticed that, below the Ark, the big blue marble was so beautiful, so precious, and … so full of hope!

 _We didn't go extinct. ALIE just gave us another chance to take care of this marvelous planet. We can't fail it this time._

For some reason, he thought of the wine bottle he almost drank a few times. _Hm...Maybe I should keep this for my descendants, tell them to open it only when our people reached the ground. And I will tell them the story of our savior, ALIE, let them never forget what she had done for us. One day, I hope they can return the favor._


	20. Chapter 20 - The Betrayal

Polis, Becca's camp.

There were around one hundred people sitting around a bonfire, sharing all the food they collected. Most of them were the original 100 who Becca saved with her vials.

"Look! A comet!" Helen pointed at the sky, excited and jumping.

Becca and others raised their heads, and saw an incredibly beautiful comet dragging a long white tail moving slowly in the evening sky.

"Wow, I never thought Halley's Comet could be this beautiful." Someone exclaimed, "And it was early. How's that possible?"

"Not only early." Becca said, "It is in the wrong place too." Her AI did some quick calculation, "My God! It missed the earth's gravitational well just by a tiny bit."

Some were impressed, "Becca, you are really a Goddess. How do you even know that?"

Becca fumbled for lies, "Uh...uh...it's just an educational guess."

"By just looking at it?"

"Uh...Again, it... was just a guess." Becca's face turned red. "I am good at astronomy."

"You are good at everything." Someone said, and others all agreed.

"Becca!" A young woman's voice called out. "Would you come here a second?"

 _Nicole again?_ What now? Becca walked toward her, seeing that she looked strange.

Usually Nicole's emotion was easy to read. She was the type of extreme outgoing and holding nothing back, but at that time the Nicole she saw was like a stranger.

"What is going on?" Becca came to her carefully. _Why she feel so cold?_

"Nothing." Nicole sounded it like she was wearing a mask, "Me and Bryan decided to leave this city. So I came here to ask you just one last thing."

"Why?" Becca was surprised. "Why do you guys want to leave? I was hoping we can build a little market here. Selling roasted rats or something."

Nicole looked at her like she was the vermin, then she said, "No, it's OK. Me and Bryan want to have our own farm. It is too crowded here. But there is one question I really wanted to know."

"Sure, anything." Becca was confused. _Something is very wrong._

"Before you inject us with that dark liquid, how many animal tests did you do with it?" Nicole asked.

 _Oh, no, somehow she knows about the reason of her miscarriage, but how did she figure it out? Not Ethan, right? He promised he will never tell._

But since she knew, Becca had to be honest with her, "One, just myself. I ran out of monkeys, and was in a rush to make them."

"So you actually had no idea of the side effects it might have. Am I right?" Nicole asked coldly. She appeared not angry, even calm, but Becca knew it was the extreme contrary. That Nicole was furious inside.

"You are right. I had no idea. I am sorry!"

 **Pppaaaaa…**

Nicole gave her a hard slap on the face. Tears circled in both women's eyes.

"You think I would not find out?" Nicole said with hate, "It was so easy. All I needed to do, was digging up my baby's body, and checking his blood. It is red. What did you say to everyone? Blood must have the same blood, right? So of course my baby would die. It's your damn science!"

"I am sorry!" Becca didn't know what else to say. The camp's people came around them to see what just happened.

Seeing people surrounding them, Nicole started to speak aloud, "You think this woman is a Goddess, your Savior? No, she is a devil! By giving us the night blood, she condemned all of us to hell!"

Someone couldn't take it, "Princess, we all know you hate her. But Becca had saved all of us. We all know that."

Nicole shouted, "But do you know you cannot have children? Do you know that the night blood will poison your own baby?"

Everyone felt silent.

Becca tried to salvage the dire situation, "No, everyone, I am making a serum, which will help the baby to survive. It will work."

It didn't help at all. Nicole continued, "I will never trust this woman again. Will you? Me and Stinky are going south to Washington DC. You can stay, or you can follow us. We leave the camp tonight."

Everyone started to discuss whether they would stay or go. Many were arguing to such a heat that punches were exchanged. Becca tried her best to calm people down, and came clean with them about their blood. The timing of being honest was very bad. Most people were angry with Becca.

Bryan came up to Becca, "Sorry, but I have to go with Nicole."

Becca tried her best to be happy for him, "Oh, it's totally fine. You are her husband. Of course you go with her."

"I am upset too, but I don't hate you for this." Bryan said, "You did the best you could, with the information you knew at that time."

"Thank you!" Becca gave him a long hug.

"If you need anything at all. Come find us, OK?" Bryan said, "We will be around the DC area."

"Go, don't make your wife wait." Becca shook his hand, "May we meet again."

Bryan nodded, "May we meet again." Then he left the camp.

Becca felt her heart aching. She might be the savior, but it was Bryan who held the people together. With him gone, a big hole was torn open. She had no idea how to keep the rest united like before.

Helen held Becca's hand, "Becca, I am sorry too."

"Are you going?" Becca worried.

She shook her head, "No, I am not going anywhere, but I have to tell you, you need to be careful with Bill Cadogan. He's a bad man, and ..."

"No, this is not the time." Becca interrupted her, "I cannot handle this now. Maybe tomorrow?"

Helen looked at with a deep sadness, and said, "OK, tomorrow."

Becca looked at people who were leaving, and couldn't help thinking, _I broke the camp! It was all my fault. I should have told them the hard truth._

Subconsciously, she touched the back of her neck, where the AI was residing. _How about this one? Should I tell them I have an AI in my brain?_

She finally decided against it. They hated her enough already. Telling them more would only make things worse. All she could do, was giving each of them her best wishes, a good farewell, and hoped one day they could forgive her.

… …

The next morning, there were only 30 people left in the camp. No one had energy to do anything. The camp was much quieter than before.

… …

"Becca Franco. Daughter of Donald Eligius, the devil. Seems the apple didn't fall far from the tree." Becca raised her head and saw Bill Cadogan approaching. He was holding a big gun.

Bill smirked slyly like Loki, "You would never guess who told Nicole about your little experiment with blood. Right? Spoiler alert. That's me."

"YOU!" Becca understood then. It was Bill who torn the camp apart.

He patted his chest like a monkey, "I am the king of the Polis now. You all are my subject, and you, woman, need to kneel before me."

Becca couldn't believe what she just heard, "You are dreaming. This is not medieval time."

Bill's followers came near. Becca put her hand on the handle of her Bushido blade. She only had 30 people left, but most of them had good training in fighting, especially Helen.

 _Wait, where is Helen?_ She looked around her people. Helen was not among them.

"Becca, you should kneel." Helen's voice came from her back. She swiftly turned around, and saw Helen holding a sharp knife to Ethan's throat.

Becca was shocked, "Helen. What are you doing?"

Helen sneered, "Betraying you. Isn't it obvious?"

"But you are…"

Helen's face turned dark, "No, I am the daughter of Daniel Graham, a level 12 Second Dawn."

"What?" Becca couldn't believe it.

"You think you saved me that day? No, I saw you cut down my father, so I ran to the basement and pretended to be a victim. You have no idea how much I hated you, don't you?" Helen continued her monologue like every villain, "Everyday I practiced, I imagined my opponent was you. I learned as much martial art from you as I could, so one day, I can kill you with my hand. You never saw it coming, did you?"

Bill applauded, "Well done, Helen! Your father's death will be answered. We will put her in a trial." Then he faced Becca, "But for now, you need to kneel to me."

Becca looked at the knife, held by Helen, at Ethan's neck, slowly and heavily she put down the blade and knelt to him. Everyone else in her camp followed.

Bill was truly happy with the great victory. "Let's put them into a jail. We will have a trial for Becca Franco tomorrow. The justice will be served."

Becca didn't hear anything. She just stared at Helen, someone she was so close yet so far, someone who she loved with all her heart, yet turned out to be the worst enemy, who hated her with a passion. She couldn't figure out who Helen really was.

Everything became confusing and unreal. Some Second Dawn member took her arm and she just followed him without any resist.

===#=#=#=#=#===

The jail house was originally a police station. There were no more guns or batons, but the iron cells remained. Becca didn't put up any fight, which surprised everyone. Ethan wrapped his arms around Becca's waist and wouldn't let go. No one bothered separating them. So they put them both in the same cell. Heavy chains were put on Becca's hands and ankles.

The rest of her people were sent to somewhere else. She and Ethan were the only prisoners in that station.

"Becca, wake up." Ethan carefully shook her shoulder, "Where are you?"

Becca eyes were staring blankly. Her body was stiff like wood. She looked more like dreaming than awake.

Ethan hugged her from her back and sobbed.

"Is that you, Chris?" Becca murmured, then she became a little sober, "Of course not. You were gone a long time ago. It's Ethan."

"Becca." Ethan worried, "You OK?"

Probably she didn't hear it. She just kept muttering, "I killed her father. Of course. How could I not see it? The way she looked at me. I should have known. I should have known."

"Helen is a bad girl!" Ethan ground his teeth, "She betrayed everyone."

"No, she is not." Becca said, "She did what she had to do."

"What now, Becca?" Ethan asked, "What should we do?"

Becca fell back to silence for a long time, before she finally held his shoulder and said, "Ethan, I am going to tell you another secret. This one you have to swear your life to protect it."


	21. Chapter 21 - The Trial

Note: Originally the trial of Becca was very brutal, in order to expose why Helen did what she did. It became too much for a teen rated book. Also I think Becca wouldn't say those things to hurt Helen that much, so now she uses obscure metaphors like "food preparing". I think it fits her better. The other things she said also have hidden meanings. If you haven't read the book one, you probably won't understand them properly.

* * *

Deep into that night, a little dark figure sneaked into the police station.

There were only two guards there snoring like pigs. They were supposed to take turns, but neither was expecting visitors. So their throats were easily cut and died without making much noise.

The jail cell's door was opened. The dark figure went in and called, "Becca, are you there?"

Becca opened her eyes, and couldn't believe what she just heard, "Helen?!"

She took off her black mask, and spoke in a whisper, "Yeah, Becca. It's me. Come on, let's get out of here."

Ethan was woken up too. His eyes was round, "You?!" He shouted.

"Shhh…" Helen put a finger on her lips, "Don't make any noise."

Becca whisper too, "Why are you here?"

"To save you. What else?" Helen talked in a very low voice, "No time to explain. Let me open your chain." She took out some keys and tried them.

Becca grabbed her arm with the chain jingling, and stared directly into her eyes, "Do you hate me or not?"

Helen had some glittering in her eyes. Slowly she shook her head.

Outside of the police station, four big guys with rifles entered the front gate. One of them stepped on glass and made a little cracking sound.

Helen took out her blade, getting ready to fight, but Becca held her down and gave her a head shake.

When those four guys carefully surround the cell, suddenly Becca yelled inside, "Help, help! She's gonna kill me!"

The shouting came out so unexpectedly everyone was shocked for a short instant. The big guys kicked open the door, and saw Helen holding the blade, while Becca, still in chains, and Ethan was backing into a corner.

Becca begged the guys, "Please, don't let her kill me!"

One of the big guy talked to Helen, "Hey, we know you hate her, but you cannot kill her before the trial."

Helen frozen there, looked at her blade, then looked at Becca, finally said, "I don't care. I want her dead."

"Our lord will not be happy about it. Get out of here!" One of the guys used his gun to point at the door.

Helen put her blade back in the sheath, and walked out of the jail with her head hanging down.

One of the guys said, "It's really a waste of time. We have been waiting for so long. No one is rescuing her. Let's just put her back with the others."

Another one scolded him, "No, this is the order from our lord. We need to keep using her as the bait. She has many friends around here."

Another one said, "Now Bonnie and Clyde are dead, what shall we tell the lord?"

"Those two are traitors and criminals. Our lord won't care."

"Alright. Let's just get out and wait outside again. It will be a long night."

===#=#=#=#=#===

The next morning was the time for the trial. 30 people from Becca's camp were escorted by 50 Second Dawn members with assault rifles to the center of the court. Then the rest of Second Dawn members sat around them.

Judge, jury plus prosecutor Bill Cadogan went to the center, hit the table with a gavel, and announced the commence of the trail: Second Dawn vs Becca Franco.

Becca sat in the defendant's seat with handcuffs. She looked at each of her people eye to eye. Those were the one who stayed, even though they knew Becca gave them the serum with a curse. They were the most loyal followers of Becca, but at that time everyone was in danger.

"First witness: Helen Graham." Bill called out. Helen went in and took the witness seat.

"So Helen, your father was murdered in cold blood, right?"

Helen took a quick look at Becca and nodded.

"Did you see who did it with your own eyes?"

Helen said, "Yes, she's right there." She pointed at her, "Becca Franco."

Someone in Becca's camp said it angrily, "How can you do this to her!", but that person was hit in the face. A little disorder ensured. After some time, a few Becca's people got punched, and they quieted down.

Bill continued his trial, "So Helen, you are 100% sure that was her, right?"

Helen bit her lips and nodded.

"Did you say something? I didn't hear it."

Helen had to say, "Yes, my lord. That's her."

"Good!" Bill was satisfied with the process so far, so he asked Becca, "So what is your defense? You have 5 minutes."

Becca looked at Helen, who wouldn't see her directly, and asked, "Helen, are you close to your father?"

Helen replied, "Yes, we are."

"You stayed with him in that tower for 2 years, right?"

"Actually 4 years." She wiped a drop of tear away, "We were in that tower way earlier than that."

Becca said, "I start to get it now. You are daddy's good girl. He went out to get food, and you cooked for him. How many meals did you prepare for him and his friends? A thousand? Two thousand?"

Helen's tears dropped down. It was a dark history she would never want to remember.

Becca continued, "So did you see your daddy and his friends having fun with strangers? Did you see what your father do to them?"

Helen couldn't say anything. Her face muscles were all twisted.

"Did you see it?" Becca kept asking, "Did you see what they did?"

"Yes, I did!" She finally broke down in sobs, "...I saw everything..."

Seeing her suffering, Becca sighed and asked softly, "So for 2 years, you see those things everyday, until your father got killed by me, right?"

"Yes." A little reply that almost no one could hear.

"Did you have nightmares for those days?"

"Almost every night."

"Are you happy in my camp? Without all the uh...food preparing."

"I was."

"Did you ever want to revenge for your daddy?"

"I did, in the beginning."

"Then what happened later? You don't want that anymore?"

"I … uh…" Helen lowered her head, "I just don't."

"OK, Good." Becca somehow still could smile. "Now I have all my answers. Yes, I confess. I killed her father in cold blood."

"Perfect!" Bill said, "You women all talk about cooking and food. So boring! But since you admitted it, then you are guilty of killing Daniel Graham, our beloved 12 level member."

He glanced at Becca's people one by one, "Now we need to find out who else had joined this massacre."

"Hahaha…" Becca suddenly laughed, "You guys are all stupid."

Bill was surprised, "You better keep quiet, or I will…"

"Hit me? Go ahead, then you will never know the truth."

"What truth?"

Becca pointed at her people, "Those are all idiots. I recruited them to do my dirty works, and they thought I was a Goddess. How funny!"

Bill looked at her wondering what she was doing, "What kind of dirty work?"

"I want to get that tower for myself, but those Second Dawn guys were there. So I used my serum to cure those guys, turning them into my henchmen. Yeah, none of them had ever suspected that I just want to use them."

"Becca!" Someone in her group shouted.

"What? You think teaching you kung fu was really for free? I wanted all of you to fight for me, and you all did. You guys are so naive! Did you ever know who my father was? It's Donald Eligius. Our family abused everyone worked for us. That why I always hide my true identity, so you will have no idea who I really am, and what I am about to do to you. Hahaha, I got an IQ of 180, none of you is my equal, and none of you can refuse me."

"Becca!" Her people started to curse and swear.

"Yeah, you know what kind of serum I put in your blood? They are a combination of toxic genes, rattle snake's, poison ivy's, even some spider's venom gene. Your blood can actually kill a horse. Yeah, those are not used to save you. I used them to control you, so you have no choice but obeying me. Because only I can make the antidote so your baby will not die. Without my permission, you have no hopes for any son or daughter. You cannot even have sex with anyone."

At that time, Becca's group were getting noisier and noisier. Most were swearing. Guards looked at Bill Cadogan for permission to subdue the crowd, but he shook his head.

Becca continued her darkling monologue, "You think it was Chinese that shoot the missile at us? Ha, what a joke! It was my daughter, ALIE, the AI I designed, who actually did it. She killed 6.5 billion people. She eliminated 95% of this city's population. I am so proud of her. She did what I told her to do: reduce the population. Yeah, you, all of you are a problem that I want to eliminate. Too bad that she didn't drop enough bombs here. All of you should be dead."

Now almost everyone started to curse at Becca. Bill Cadogan hit the gavel hard. Finally people started to quiet down, but they all had rage in their eyes.

Bill announced, "Now everyone heard her confession, and know what kind of evil she actually is. Is there anyone still want to say something for her?"

The court became very quiet. Only Helen and Ethan was sobbing uncontrollably.

"Good!" Bill hit the gavel again, "Now I announce the sentence. Becca Franco is guilty of people manipulation, murder and humancide. We will burn this devil in the square."

"Burn her!" "Kill this witch!" "Revenge for all of us!" Almost everyone yelled.


	22. Chapter 22 - Book Two End

_Chris, I am coming._ Becca thought to herself. _My fight will be over soon._

She was tied to a pole. Below her were all angry people, including the ones from her camp, a big pile of wood laid under her feet.

Bill Cadogan was happy. The trial went surprisingly well for him. Originally he planned to kill most of her followers, but after the trial everyone hated Becca, so he recruited them all. Those 30 people had various good fighting skills, trained by none other than the famous Becca the savior herself, who was about to be burnt like a witch.

"Any last words?" Bill asked.

Becca looked at the people, some would die for her the day before. She remembered how broken and scared they were. She remembered how they survived together, trained together, fought together and built together.

 _Oh, no!_ She saw some tears among some of them. _They need to hate me now!_

So she spoke aloud, "Please let me go. I will make the serum for you. The next one will work. Your babies will not die."

They were clearly not happy about it, "You gave us the poison, now you want to give us another?"

"Burn her!"

Becca were still insisting, "Please I promise you, the next one will really work. If it doesn't, at least they won't suffer."

Someone threw a torch into the wood pile without Bill's permission. The fire caught on immediately.

 _Here it comes._ Becca thought. She searched the crowd for Ethan. _Where is him?_ Then she found Helen, who gazed upon her. Tears fell down from both of her cheeks.

Becca even made a little smile, before unbearable pain went straight up from her feet. She screamed like a wounded beast.

 **Ahhhhhh...** Her shrieking pierced everyone's ears like a knife cut through their hearts. Her former followers found themselves in tears. _Yeah, maybe she did those bad things as she claimed, but without her, they wouldn't have survived the harsh environment, they wouldn't have exterminated those cannibals who preyed them like predators, and they wouldn't have lived in peace and hope, though for only a short period. They still owed her their lives._

 **Ahhhhhh...** Her voice turned hoarse, but people felt her excruciating pain in the screaming nonetheless. Some started to wail, burying their faces with hands; some held their fists tight. Bill Cadogan noticed some eyes staring directing at him. _Why you all look at me like that?_ Intuitively he tightened the grip on his big gun. _Come on, go ahead, do something if you dare._

A knife flew straight like an arrow, making a sharp swish through the air, and lodged deeply into Becca's chest. It pierced through her heart with surgical precision.

Everyone looked back. They saw Helen's right hand was still up, trembling like an autumn leaf.

"I... I... hate her!" With a shaking voice, Helen exclaimed in tears, "That should be my kill!"

Becca finally stopped her howling. Some of her former followers fell down to the ground and cried out loud. All of them bowed their heads in mourning.

Bill loosened his grip on the gun. He didn't like Helen's unauthorized action, but obviously the tension in the air was much less.

Very soon the fire consumed Becca's whole body.

… …

Ethan came to the pile of ashes. He looked around, and saw Helen was still there, staring at the burned remnants. He came up to her, and offered her some water. Helen drank it all up.

Carefully Ethan asked, "It's been a whole day. Why are you still here?"

Helen asked back, "Why do you keep coming back?"

Both didn't want to answer, so they kept quiet together.

After a long time Ethan asked, "Do you love her?"

Slowly Helen nodded.

"Then why you betrayed her?" Ethan asked, "Why you put a knife on my throat?"

Helen looked around, making sure no one else was around, then said, "You have no idea how dangerous it was. There were 5 snipers aiming at her head. If she fought she would have died."

Ethan said, "Now she's dead any way. You took away her last fight."

Helen replied, "I tried to rescue her, remember?"

"True…" Ethan nodded, "It was a lousy attempt, but you did try."

"If she let me fight, I think I had a chance to kill them all."

Ethan said, "But she wouldn't let you take the risk. She's always like that."

"Yeah, she always tried so hard to save others. Never considered herself. I really don't know what to do without her." Helen said sorrowfully, "She pulled me out from the darkness and gave me hope. She taught me how to fight, but also how to love."

"How about your father?" Ethan asked, "Do you love him?"

She gave out a little sneer. "I know what they did in that damned tower. He was not a role model, to say the least. He and this Cadogan are the different faces of the same coin."

Finally Ethan asked, "Do you want to avenge her?"

Surprised, Helen swung to face him, "How?"

"By becoming the second commander." Ethan pointed at the burnt pile, "Her spirit is somewhere there. We need to find it."

===#=#=#=#=#===

Two months later, near the Mega Tower. Polis.

On a roof, Joe Whitman took out the radio and asked, "Hey, Bravo, are you in position?"

"Yes, Alpha. We are set."

He asked again, "Charlie, are you in?"

The reply came quick, "Yes, we are in and ready."

"Good!" Whitman said to them, "We will shoot at the bogeys and snipers up in the tower first. Then any Second Dawn you can find. You all understand?"

All teams replied, "Yes, sir."

"Ahhhh…" Someone screamed from below. Whitman look down, and saw Helen cut open someone on the street. Following her were a big group of people with bats, spears and swords.

 _Can't they just wait a damn minute?_ Whitman sighed, then spoke to the radio, "Open fire now."

A cluster of bangs burst out, two Second Dawn guards dropped from the tower.

" **FOR BECCA!** " Swinging her blade, Helen shouted at the top of her voice, and sprinted toward the tall building.

" **FOR BECCA!** " Bryan threw a spear at a Second Dawn, impaling him to the ground.

" **FOR BECCA!** " All 1000 people, who was previously saved by her, bellowed their fury.

It was not much of a battle. None of the 200 followers of Bill Cadogan had half of the guts to fight. Many threw down their weapon right after they heard the thundering roar.

… …

There were 5 guards at the elevator door, but they could only delay Helen a short while. In that narrow space, their guns couldn't compete with the lightning fast chopping of Helen's blade. One by one they fell down to the floor missing a hand or a leg.

Bill Cadogan heard the footsteps coming close. He turned and faced the entrance.

A little faint rainbow flashed by, and the last follower's head fell down without knowing how he died. Helen showed up at the big door. She got blood all over her. Not one drop was hers.

"Helen, you are back." Bill Cadogan pretended to be congenial. "We were worried. You have been missing for 2 months."

"Shut the mouth." Helen glared at him coldly. "It's time for your trial."

"My trial?" Bill looked around, "Right here?"

Helen didn't care, "Did you murder Becca the Savior, our first Commander?"

"No, we gave her a trial." Bill was nervous, "I, I, I didn't kill her."

Helen slashed at his chest. A cut appeared with blood dripping out. Bill cried out in pain.

"Now I am giving you a trial too." Helen cursed him, "You are guilty of it. I watched the whole DAMN thing."

"Hey, Helen!" Whitman finally arrived, he tried to stop her.

"Don't!" Helen put her hand against him, "This is our way. The grounder's way. One cut for each life." She made another cut swiftly, "This is for my father. Your cult turned him into a monster!" More blood came out from Cadogan's stomach.

Whitman protested, "We are not savages!"

Helen was in a rage, "We are worse! We did things no savages will ever do!"

"Don't kill me!" Bill Cadogan tried to covered his wounds, and begged for his life, "The bunker is now closed. If you kill me, no one will know how to open it."

"That's just perfect! We don't need the bunker anyway." She grabbed him with the collar and brought him to the edge. "Any last words?"

"I am sorry. Please let me go...AAAAAAHHHH…" Along a parabolic curve, Bill Cadogan fell down from the top of the tower, and smashed into the ground. No one could recognize that was him.

Whitman carefully looked over the edge, then stepped back into the room and said, "Helen, you have some serious issues."

Bryan ran in, and he was disappointed, "Where is that Cadogan guy?"

"You are too late." Whitman pointed to below, "He just...died."

"What? You just killed him?" Bryan said, "Oh, no. We need him alive, at least for now."

Helen wiped her blade with a drape. "For what?"

"We couldn't find the gene modder. It was not in the hospital. My nuclear engine was also missing." Bryan said. "We need those things to save other survivors."

 _Part of my mission is to recover the gene modder, but now it's gone!_ Whitman stared at Helen with anger, but she didn't even blink.

Helen just said, "Well, we already have a thousand who did the gene modding, right?"

"But there are still thousands more out there."

"I don't care. They just need to find their own ways to live." Helen said. She pointed at the ground, "Those one thousand are my people. They came to fight for me and Becca. They will have a much better chance to thrive, if others died off."

Bryan said, "You are not Becca at all. She cares about everyone, not just her people."

"And she got killed for that. She shouldn't have cured Cadogan and his thugs. They are her worst enemy. I won't make the same mistake."

"Enjoy your reign here, but you are not my commander." Bryan made the decision and pressed a button of the radio, "Princess, you there?"

"Hey, Stinky, I am always here." The radio replied. "I got 5 kills, you?"

"We are pulling out." Bryan said, "I don't want to come back here, ever."

A sharp cold blade laid across his neck. Helen glared at him, "Before you leave, you have to bend your knees to me. Or you will follow that Bill Cadogan."

Bryan stared right back at her fearlessly, "We are here for Becca, not for you. If you kill me, no one will follow you."

Whitman had to intervene, "Guys, guys, you are taking this way too serious. This is not 18th century. It's not like we need a bloody fight to determine who is the leader."

"Maybe we should." Bryan said with contempt, "For what reason this little demented girl can rule over me and my people?"

"For Becca's spirit in my brain." Helen pointed at her neck. "She led me to your village and Mount Weather."

"But you don't deserve her spirit!" Bryan refuted, "Any one of us is better than you. I knew you betrayed her."

 _That little rat._ Helen thought. _Seems Ethan now has regrets. If people know what I did, none of them will follow me. I need to find a way to kill that boy and Bryan, quick._

With a dark smile she said, "Well, maybe we do need a conclave of leaders, which we all fight to the death. The last person standing will take the spirit."

Bryan thudded his spear loud, "No problem with me!"

===#=#=#=#=#===

Up in the Ark. Michael Jaha gaze upon the beautiful glowing blue globe below, deep in thought.

 _For billions of years, the Earth has been raising so many species, but none was as dangerous as us humans. We already killed her once. Almost did it again. How many times can she take our stabbings, until finally dies?_

Theodore Kane came in, and handed him the Chancellor's pin, "I believe this is yours."

Jaha nodded, "How's the situation on Hydrofarm 3?"

"They are rebuilding it, but it will take 10 years or more." Kane said, "The biggest problem now is how we support 6000 people with food barely enough for 4000."

"The same dilemma Mars was facing, and they all died for it." Jaha said, "I hope we will not make the same mistake."

"That's why we need you." Kane said, "Every member of council knows you tried to crash the Ark, which forced ALIE to intervene. They all think you are the hero. It's just too bad no one else will know."

"I didn't know ALIE was watching us. I was really trying to kill all of us." Jaha admitted it without any reservation.

Kane smiled, "Jaha, I know you. Like in your chess games, you always think 10 moves ahead. You were not actually killing us, you were just making a huge bet."

Jaha shook his head. _Why no one believe him when he told them the truth?_

Kane continued, "I have 5 witnesses who said they saw ALIE on the screen, and she blamed you of forcing her to kill the Martians. I have to admit, that was a super-crazy but brilliant move!"

Jaha really had nothing to say to that. _People just see what they wanted to see._

"Anyway." Kane added, "Please come back to the meeting, Chancellor. There are a thousand problems waiting for you to fix."

"Tell me, Mr. Kane" Jaha finally asked, "After so many things happened, what did you learn from all these?"

Kane gave out a little wink, "Probably nothing. I'd rather go home and watch the next episode of 'The 100'."

===#=#=#=#=#===

Note: Thank you so much for reading the whole book! I sincerely appreciate your support of this book, especially the reader TedL, who gave me some ideas for the ending. The whole writing experience was amazing. I had tears in my eyes in many chapters. Sometimes I was shocked to find out what a character would do, like ALIE's saving Ark, Helen's betrayal, and what Becca had said in her trial. In the end, I am very happy to see Becca's legend has made a complete circle. It's like finally found the answers to many questions I have been wondering about Becca.

Anyway, thanks for reading my book! **May We Meet Again!**


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